[cmake-developers] [CMake 0014091]: get_filename_component PATH docs and parameter naming kinda suck

[Mantis Bug Tracker]

The following issue has been SUBMITTED. 
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http://www.cmake.org/Bug/view.php?id=14091 
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Reported By:                Dave Abrahams
Assigned To:                
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Project:                    CMake
Issue ID:                   14091
Category:                   CMake
Reproducibility:            always
Severity:                   major
Priority:                   normal
Status:                     new
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Date Submitted:             2013-04-15 17:20 EDT
Last Modified:              2013-04-15 17:20 EDT
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Summary:                    get_filename_component PATH docs and parameter
naming kinda suck
Description: 
<rant on>
       get_filename_component
              Get a specific component of a full filename.

                get_filename_component(<VAR> FileName
                                       PATH|ABSOLUTE|NAME|EXT|NAME_WE|REALPATH
                                       [CACHE])

              Set  <VAR>  to be the path (PATH), file name (NAME), file
extension
              (EXT), file name without extension (NAME_WE) of FileName, the 
full
              path (ABSOLUTE), or the full path with all symlinks resolved
(REAL-
              PATH).  Note that the path is converted to Unix slashes format 
and

What PATH actually does is not to get the "path of FIlename", but the directory
of Filename.  The fact that ABSOLUTE actually does get the path of filename
should make this screamingly obvious.  It's not like the results of PATH are
some relative version of what ABSOLUTE yields.  Nobody should have to troll
stackoverflow
(http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7035734/cmake-parent-directory) for answers
like this one.  Recommended fix: deprecate PATH and replace it with DIRECTORY
</rant off>
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Issue History 
Date Modified    Username       Field                    Change               
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2013-04-15 17:20 Dave Abrahams  New Issue                                    
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