rel2abs doesnot work in unix

Anonymous Monk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi monks!
Im using rel2abs of file::spec module to convert the relative path to absolute path. Its works fine in windows. but when i run in linux the absolute path has not come out correctly.

pwd
/sample/folder1/test

$ perl test.pl "/sample/folder1/test/work/first.html"
[download]

what test.pl does is go into first.html; extract the files used and convert them to abs path and show the resultant file paths.
for the file '../pictures/logo.gif', it returns the path as /sample/folder1/test/work/../pictures/logo.gif' while actually it should be '/sample/folder1/test/pictures/logo.gif'
Can anyone tell me why it doesnot work

Comment on rel2abs doesnot work in unix Download Code

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Re: rel2abs doesnot work in unix by merlyn (Sage) on Jun 16, 2005 at 12:08 UTC
From the Fine Manual: `No checks against the filesystem are made.` [download] Because of that, it cannot know that "work" is not a symlink, so that "work/.." cannot be removed safely. Thus, you are getting the requested result. It may not be what you want, but it's what File::Spec knows how to return. For more information, see my column on expanding symlinks. -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: rel2abs doesnot work in unix by Smylers (Pilgrim) on Jun 16, 2005 at 16:41 UTC
for the file '../pictures/logo.gif', it returns the path as /sample/folder1/test/work/../pictures/logo.gif' That has worked: you have it a relative path (one that depends on which directory you are in) and got back an absolute path (one that, in the case of Unix, starts with a slash and therefore refers to that file regardless of your current directory). while actually it should be '/sample/folder1/test/pictures/logo.gif' To clean up a path like that have a look at `abs_path` and friends in `CWD`. Smylers	[reply]
Re: rel2abs doesnot work in unix by petdance (Parson) on Jun 16, 2005 at 18:50 UTC
You might want to think about how you phrase these things. You said rel2abs doesnot work in unix when the reality is I can't make rel2abs do what I expect in unix The former is accusatory, and incorrect. xoxo, Andy	[reply]
Re^2: rel2abs doesnot work in unix by merlyn (Sage) on Jun 16, 2005 at 20:12 UTC
The problem with that line of thinking is that it requires outside knowledge to distinguish. True, not everything is inherently broken, but more often than not, it's easier to blame the tool than to blame the user, because more often than not, it is indeed the tool that is broken. -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.	[reply]
Re^2: rel2abs doesnot work in unix by Anonymous Monk on Jun 17, 2005 at 06:14 UTC
I do hav only limited knowledge. May be i shd hav put it in differnt way. Pardon me if i hav mislead/sound accusing. -questioner	[reply]
Re^3: rel2abs doesnot work in unix by Anonymous Monk on Jun 17, 2005 at 07:14 UTC
But Andy, you didnt tell me what 's the correct way of using rel2abs to get the desired result. -questioner	[reply]
Re: rel2abs doesnot work in unix by Anonymous Monk on Jun 17, 2005 at 07:33 UTC
Absolute pathnames from relative?	[reply]