in reply to Re^3: Starting Strawberry in Win7
in thread Starting Strawberry in Win7

I use Perl under Windows only about 3 or 4 times per year (and am thus really not a specialist for that particular platform ...

Perhaps you should let others answer then.

I very much doubt that issuing the test command at the command prompt will launch the test.pl perl program.

It does! If the environment is set up correctly.

When a command (without a path or extension, like "test") is typed on the command line, first the variable PATHEXT=.pl;.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD; is consulted, and each of the extensions found there are, in turn, added to the command before the path is searched for an 'executable', and the first one found is then run.

In the case of PATHEXT above, test.pl, will take priority over test.com, which will take priority over test.exe which ...

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Re^5: Starting Strawberry in Win7
by Laurent_R (Canon) on Aug 17, 2014 at 20:45 UTC
    Allright, thank you for the correction, BrowserUk ++, I did not know that. This sounds quite practical, but it might also in some cases be a security issue, because someone may end up executing another program than the intended one.
[reply]

      Thanks to BrowserUK for pointing out the priority implications of the ordering of items in PATHEXT.

      It leads to to another thought -- maybe somebody has already done it. There is a tremendous amount of information on this site and that other one, LinuxQuestions, and several other similar places. But that info is extremely hard to access. Is there something like a Wiki of info on Windows, Perl, or a thousand other computer issues? I have a huge library of books collected over 30-some years of programming -- and that info is also just about as hard to get to. There must be a better answer.

      The MS tech info site is a good start, but they only tell you what they want you to know. Not much scurrilous poop there. Here's one of my peeves: In older Win OSs, I habitually used DownArrow to redo the last command or bring it up for editing. Now, I get something from the past that some MS programmer thought I would like. I've heard there are ways around that, but I have not found any more than that.

      A better example is the Unix/Linux HOWTO collection. An excellent body of reference material. Of course, it needs to be kept up to date. A Wiki is good that way.

[reply]
      but it might also in some cases be a security issue,

      No more (or less) so that the PATH variable; and it is a well known situation that has been around forever.

      But, like the PATH, if the miscreant has the ability (access) to change the environment variable to cause you to run the wrong executable; then they also have the ability to replace the original executable with the (renamed) one they want you to run; or set up a shell alias to cause it to be run.

      Some things are worth worrying about, and (assuming basic precautions), some things are not.

      With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'
      Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
      "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
      In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
[reply]

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