On Sun, Mar 15, 2020 at 10:48 AM Jeffrey Walton <noloader@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Sun, Mar 15, 2020 at 9:59 AM Bob Friesenhahn
> <bfriesen@simple.dallas.tx.us> wrote:
> >
> > On Sun, 15 Mar 2020, Jeffrey Walton wrote:
> > ...
> Maybe libtool can do the same. Supply a small C program, compile it
> and call it from the libtool scripts. Its would be quite easy to
> supply the path in argv[1], and get back either (1) the original name
> (no spaces), (2) a short file name or (3) a quoted long file name. If
> the path gets split and shows up in pieces across argv[1]...argv[n-1],
> then just combine the pieces because you know what is supposed to
> happen.

Bob, see what you think about a program like the one attached. The C
code will be messier, but it is the same concept.

Here's what it returns during testing. The -c options means returns
string to use as a C declare.

With USE_WINDOWS_API (tested under MSYS):

    $ ./quote_path.exe "C:\Users\Jeffrey" "Walton\Desktop"
    C:\Users\JEFFRE~1\Desktop

    $ ./quote_path.exe -c "C:\Users\Jeffrey" "Walton\Desktop"
    "C:\\Users\\JEFFRE~1\\Desktop";

    $ ./quote_path.exe -c C:\\Users
    C:\\Users

Without USE_WINDOWS_API (tested under MSYS):

    $ ./quote_path.exe "C:\Users\Jeffrey" "Walton\Desktop"
    "C:\Users\Jeffrey Walton\Desktop"

    $ ./quote_path.exe -c "C:\Users\Jeffrey" "Walton\Desktop"
    "\"C:\\Users\\Jeffrey Walton\\Desktop\"";

    $ ./quote_path.exe C:\\Users\\Jeffrey Walton\\Desktop
    "C:\Users\Jeffrey Walton\Desktop"

    $ ./quote_path.exe -c C:\\Users\\Jeffrey Walton\\Desktop
    "\"C:\\Users\\Jeffrey Walton\\Desktop\"";

    $ ./quote_path.exe -c C:\\Users
    C:\\Users

I think offloading to an external program written for the specific
problem will probably simplify libtool and its helpers. It will make
your life a lot easier.

Jeff