`path.win32.isAbsolute` considers relative paths absolute

[reverofevil]

Version

22.11.0

Platform

Linux pc 6.8.0-48-generic #48-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Fri Sep 27 14:04:52 UTC 2024 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Subsystem

No response

What steps will reproduce the bug?

require('path').win32.isAbsolute('\\foo') === true

How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?

Yes. No.

What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?

Here's a behavior of cd on Windows:

C:\Users\user> cd \Windows
C:\Windows>

\Windows is relative to drive name.

Expected output for isAbsolute() is false.

What do you see instead?

isAbsolute() is true.

Additional information

No response

[ChaseKnowlden]

That is normal to be true.

[ljharb]

"relative to drive name" is still an absolute path, imo - it's just a concept that doesn't exist on any other OS.

[reverofevil]

If it's an absolute path, can you move source code to another drive, and get it work the same way?

I hope we're not here to blame windows for having weird features other OSes don't, but to get Node.js path library right, and applications breaking due to relative paths considered absolute is not right.

[ljharb]

That’s a fair point - i meant more that windows has three concepts (relative, absolute, and drive-relative) and every other OS has two (relative and absolute), and node doesn’t seem to have any concept of drive-relative yet, so I’m not sure what a safe fix would be.

[gurgunday]

Should I try to implement a fix?

To get more info: Is this "drive-relative" concept "official"? Does Windows really consider it relative or is it just an argument you're making?

[reverofevil]

From here

If all three components are present, the path is absolute. If no volume or drive letter is specified and the directory name begins with the directory separator character, the path is relative from the root of the current drive.

[ljharb]

@gurgunday unfortunately i'm not clear on what would be the best path. it seems like it would have been better for node to have 3 concepts to begin with since windows has 3, but node has always only had 2, so this ambiguity persists.