Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!mhres!squirrel!jv From: jv@mh.nl (Johan Vromans) Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl Subject: Re: How to find working directory? Message-ID: <1990Aug5.204235.10036@squirrel.mh.nl> Date: 5 Aug 90 20:42:35 GMT References: <8974@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> <21198@duke.cs.duke.edu> <104612@convex.convex.com> <1990Aug5.115155.10191@pegasus.com> Sender: jv@squirrel.mh.nl (Johan Vromans) Reply-To: Johan Vromans Organization: Multihouse Automation, the Netherlands Lines: 22 In-Reply-To: richard@pegasus.com's message of 5 Aug 90 11:51:55 GMT In article <1990Aug5.115155.10191@pegasus.com> richard@pegasus.com (Richard Foulk) writes: > The only time $USER isn't trusted is when security is at stake. Having > a $PWD that is incorrect seems very ungood to me. You could at least > remove it from the environment if you know it's wrong. The environment variable PWD does not have any relation at all with the current working directory, although some programs think it does. Because sometimes it does reflect where you are, it may be used as a starting point to find out the current working dir. Removing PWD from the environment in certain situations would violate all rules. The user is in total control of all environment variables, no program should interfere. Johan -- Johan Vromans jv@mh.nl via internet backbones Multihouse Automatisering bv uucp: ..!{uunet,hp4nl}!mh.nl!jv Doesburgweg 7, 2803 PL Gouda, The Netherlands phone/fax: +31 1820 62911/62500 ------------------------ "Arms are made for hugging" -------------------------