activate for venv containing apostrophe doesn't work in powershell

[csabella]

BPO	35667
Nosy	@vsajip, @eryksun, @csabella, @tirkarthi
PRs	bpo-37354: Make Powershell Activate.ps1 script static to allow for signing #14967

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2019-09-09.10:22:37.115>
created_at = <Date 2019-01-05.21:34:29.044>
labels = ['3.7', '3.8', 'type-bug', 'library']
title = "activate for venv containing apostrophe doesn't work in powershell"
updated_at = <Date 2019-09-09.10:22:37.111>
user = 'https://github.com/csabella'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2019-09-09.10:22:37.111>
actor = 'vinay.sajip'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2019-09-09.10:22:37.115>
closer = 'vinay.sajip'
components = ['Library (Lib)']
creation = <Date 2019-01-05.21:34:29.044>
creator = 'cheryl.sabella'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 35667
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 4.0
messages = ['333075', '333116', '333125', '351405']
nosy_count = 4.0
nosy_names = ['vinay.sajip', 'eryksun', 'cheryl.sabella', 'xtreak']
pr_nums = ['14967']
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue35667'
versions = ['Python 3.7', 'Python 3.8']

[csabella]

On Windows 10, when I try to activate a venv in powershell where the name contains an apostrophe, I get the following error ("don't" is the name of the venv):

PS N:\projects\cpython\don't\Scripts> .\activate.ps1
At N:\projects\cpython\don't\Scripts\Activate.ps1:42 char:28
+ function global:prompt {
+ ~
Missing closing '}' in statement block or type definition.
At N:\projects\cpython\don't\Scripts\Activate.ps1:37 char:40
+ if (! $env:VIRTUAL_ENV_DISABLE_PROMPT) {
+ ~
Missing closing '}' in statement block or type definition.
At N:\projects\cpython\don't\Scripts\Activate.ps1:43 char:61
+ Write-Host -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Green '(don't) '
+ ~
Unexpected token ')' in expression or statement.
At N:\projects\cpython\don't\Scripts\Activate.ps1:43 char:63
+ Write-Host -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Green '(don't) '
+ ~
The string is missing the terminator: '.
+ CategoryInfo : ParserError: (:) [], ParseException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : MissingEndCurlyBrace

This works OK in Command Prompt.

[tirkarthi]

From the error I think the quotes are not properly escaped while doing text replacement in venv activate file template at [0] while it's generated? On linux/Mac double quotes are used and hence the error is not triggered with single quote in virtualenv name. Using double quote in virtualenv name triggers the parse error.

$  python3.7 -m venv py37\"-bpo-35667-venv
$  source py37\"-bpo-35667-venv/bin/activate
py37"-bpo-35667-venv/bin/activate:57: parse error near `then'

Looking into the py37\"-bpo-35667-venv/bin/activate script there is below line where the double quote is unbalanced :

    if [ "x(py37"-bpo-35667-venv) " != x ] ; then
	PS1="(py37"-bpo-35667-venv) ${PS1:-}"
    else

I tried escaping the quotes with backslash at [0] but I get a similar error. I guess it's similar case in Powershell as I can see from Activate.ps1 but I haven't tested it. I am not sure about the difference in semantics between powershell and command prompt with respect to quoting since I don't have access to Windows.

py37\'-bpo-35667-venv/bin/Activate.ps1 file with unbalanced quote

function global:prompt {
    Write-Host -NoNewline -ForegroundColor Green '(py37'-bpo-35667-venv) '
    _OLD_VIRTUAL_PROMPT
}

[0]

cpython/Lib/venv/__init__.py

Line 280 in a5b7616

text = text.replace('__VENV_PROMPT__', context.prompt)

[eryksun]

I am not sure about the difference in semantics between powershell and
command prompt with respect to quoting since

CMD only uses single quotes in for /f loops, in which it's either a command or a literal string (w/ the "usebackq" option). This is not a problem in activate.bat.

Double quotes in file names generally shouldn't be a problem in Windows. As far as I know, only the named-pipe file system allows them in pipe-file names (e.g. r'\\?\pipe\"pipename"'), and for regular files they're allowed in stream names (e.g. 'filename:"streamname"'). Otherwise, double quote should be reserved in file names as the DOS_DOT wildcard character.

[vsajip]

This has reportedly been fixed by the changes made to fix bpo-37354. I'll close this, but please reopen if you find it's still a problem.