Remove the / -> : replacement from the File constructor

[Ms2ger]

This was added in 5cd3dda, allegedly in response to https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=23147. Neither Chrome nor Gecko seems to implement it.

[inexorabletash]

sgtm

[mkruisselbrink]

Looking at https://wpt.fyi/results/FileAPI/file/File-constructor.html?label=experimental&label=master&aligned it appears that "Neither Chrome nor Gecko seems to implement it." is perhaps no longer true? It seems that now Gecko is the odd one out and actually does implement what the current spec says...

[TimothyGu]

Gecko implemented this in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1321534 (2016). The actual discussion thread is https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webapps/2013JulSep/0379.html, where there was quite a bit of back and forth.

FWIW, Servo implements it too with a reference to this issue.

[annevk]

@bakulf mentions the Entries API as motivation, which seems like it would still be relevant?

[bakulf]

In the Entries API, a name cannot contain '/' (https://wicg.github.io/entries-api/#names-paths). That spec uses '/' as directory separator here: https://wicg.github.io/entries-api/#evaluate-a-path
We should try to keep the File API compatible with the Entries API.

[mkruisselbrink]

I see, it's unfortunate Firefox implemented this change without noticing that this open issue existed, but I guess ultimately that is on us spec editors for not clearly marking these things in the spec.

I'm not sure what the Entries API has to do with this. The Entries API does not consume File objects, it produces them. And when it produces them it doesn't do so by invoking the File constructor. The logic here only effect File objects created by javascript it seems completely irrelevant what the Entries API does (well, not irrelevant, it is good to be consistent. But that has nothing to do with being compatible).

(also I might be missing something/not finding the right message, but I don't see anything in that discussion thread specifically related to replacing '/' with ':'?)

If we do actually want to disallow '/' in the name attribute of a script created File, I'm not sure why replacing it with ':' makes sense. Wouldn't it make more sense to just reject entirely?

Also, non-traditional file systems, like for example Google Drive, do allow '/' in file names. And it's not immediately obvious to me why we would need to stop them from creating File objects with those names. Different platforms/file systems have different limitations, but we're not limiting File objects to the strictest possible subset of filenames (8.3 filenames only anyone?)

[annevk]

Replacing rather than throwing does seem bad and Entries API does indeed only produce File objects, it doesn't appear to consume them. Entries API does appear to define a model for files in https://wicg.github.io/entries-api/#names-paths onward and that does conflict with allowing various code points in the name, including /. And its processing model does seem to get confused if a name with / would appear as it deals with paths as single strings.

Looking at this I think a reasonable outcome would be:

1. Remove the replace operation from File API and Firefox. And add/change a test.
2. File an issue against Entries API to ensure it's model for files is aligned with File API. We shouldn't have multiple conflicting models of what files are in the web platform.

[andreubotella]

There's also the issue that HTML specifies that filenames for <input type="file"> must not contain path components separated by '\\', but it says nothing about '/'. I don't think this is an issue that any of the algorithms in HTML would choke on (unless you count input.value being "C:\\fakepath\\" + filename), but in the interest of consistency, if the File constructor throws on one, it should also throw on the other.

[domenic]

The WPTs now expect no replacement, but the spec still says replacement must happen. Can we fix the spec?