netrw not respecting cwd on first file openning

[dr0bz]

Steps to reproduce

1. cd to a folder with files in question: ~/workspace/playground/vim-netrw-path-issue
2. :Explore
3. select a file and open: config.vimrc (attached below)
4. the opened buffer has full path in the name: ~/workspace/playground/vim-netrw-path-issue/config.vimrc
5. repeat 2 and 3 (reopen the same file through netrw)
6. the opened buffer has a proper name respecting the cwd: config.vimrc

screenrec-2025-10-07--14.08.mp4

Expected behaviour

netrw should respect cwd on first opening.

Version of Vim

9.1.1765

Environment

Arch linux

Logs and stack traces

" minimal config
" vim -u config.vimrc

set nocompatible
packadd netrw
let g:netrw_banner = 0

[chrisbra]

Strange, can reproduce. But don't know what is causing this. Vims handling of filenames is sometimes a bit pecular, this seems to be one of those things.

[dr0bz]

Hey @chrisbra ,

i was sure few years ago there were no issue with it, so i tried to find the 'good commit'. I came until commit e84c773d (tag: v9.0.1595) 31.05.23 - the issue still exists. Couldn't go below because of getting compile errors. So maybe the issue was always there or just longer than that. I tested with current runtime of the commit:

VIMRUNTIME=./runtime src/vim -u ./config.vimrc

P.S.: current neovim v0.11.4 has the same issue :)

Best regards,
dr0bz