find-file windows drive name

[kReoSo]

It seems windows drive name cannot be deleted when using find-file. I tried to access my samba share using //server/share, but the find-file command always prefixed with the drive name, such as d:/server/share. Are there any commands to disable drive letter?

[abo-abo]

I don't know how to solve this. But patches welcome, if someone manages to figure it out.

[kReoSo]

I found one. The function ivy--magic-file-slash returns the drive letter when the user types //. It seems we need a pattern returns (ivy--cd "//").

[fpopineau]

Actually, IIRC //host/share/ are valid POSIX pathnames, and the current behavior in ivy.el does not honor them. The following patch simply requires that 3 '/' be typed in a row to get back to the root directory, else the user can go on typing its //host/share/ pathname or whatever.

$ diff -u swiper/ivy.el ~/.emacs.d/elpa/ivy-20161216.630/ivy.el
--- swiper/ivy.el       2016-12-22 18:16:33.490786500 +0100
+++ /c/Home/.emacs.d/elpa/ivy-20161216.630/ivy.el       2016-12-22 22:49:19.175019300 +0100
@@ -2234,7 +2234,9 @@
 (defun ivy--magic-file-slash ()
   (cond ((member ivy-text ivy--all-candidates)
          (ivy--cd (expand-file-name ivy-text ivy--directory)))
-        ((string-match "//\\'" ivy-text)
+        ((and (string-match "//\\'" ivy-text)
+              (= 0 (string-match "//\\'" ivy-text))))
+        ((string-match "///\\'" ivy-text)
          (if (and default-directory
                   (string-match "\\`[[:alpha:]]:/" default-directory))
              (ivy--cd (match-string 0 default-directory))

[richardxday]

Is there a reason why this patch hasn't made into the code? Is there an alternative way to access //server/share files?

I've just tested it and it works on windows and allows access to //server/share files. I will continue to test it on both Windows and Linux and report any issues.

[abo-abo]

@richardxday The patch hasn't made it since // is a very common way to access the root directory.

Could someone please link to a description of //server/share type path and how I can test it?

Does /smb:server/share not work for you?

[fpopineau]

As I already said above, //server/share is a valid POSIX name, and the syntax /smb:server/share is not known from Windows.
Maybe you can make it an option?

[richardxday]

@fpopineau I think that would be a great idea: a pref for this behaviour, I don't mind using '///' for root if it allows //server/share access

[abo-abo]

the syntax /smb:server/share is not known from Windows

On Linux, when you go to the root with //, you get all kinds of connection methods, like ssh:, ftp:, docker:, and smb:. Is that not the case on Windows?

[richardxday]

No, you just get the files and directories in the root of your current drive. You can change drives by typing something like 'd:' then pressing slash but you cannot get to a network address because that requires double slash - which just takes back to the root of the drive!

[abo-abo]

Thanks, please test.

[mohkale]

@abo-abo in regards to ssh:, ftp:, docker:, smb: not showing up on windows etc. that was what issue #2248 was about. Sorry if that wasn't clear enough 😅.

As for this new behavior, I can't say I'm very fond of having a different magic slash effect on unix and on windows (as I use both). Wouldn't a less intrusive approach here be to retain the // taking you to the home directory, but appending another // (or even just a single /) at that point has the current affect. If that's not possible, could you at least make triple /// optional, I don't use this weird path notation anyways.

Also, through the method outlined in #2248 I can get tramp protocol completion on windows, but I'm not seeing smb as an option. For now, the following protocols do appear to be available.

adb:
doas:
fcp:
ftp:
gcssh:
krlogin:
ksu:
nc:
plink:
plinkx:
pscp:
psftp:
rclone:
rcp:
remcp:
remsh:
rsh:
rsync:
scp:
scpx:
sg:
ssh:
sshx:
su:
sudo:
sudoedit:
telnet: