bytecodealliance / bytecodealliance/cap-std

Getting the path of a Dir

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Dominant language
Rust
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Description

Sometimes I'd like to be able to get the path for a `Dir`.

For example,

* logs or debugging
* passing the path to a separate process
* passing the path to a library that doesn't yet support the capability model

For example, in a personal project, I'm using the `git2` wrapper around `libgit2`. In order to call `Repository::clone(url, path)`, I need the path of the cache directory. I could use gitoxide, a pure rust implementation of git, however that would have the same problem. Maybe in the future we can make gitoxide use cap-std, but for now that's not an option.

Yes, some of these examples break the capability model, however, from a pragmatic point of view, that may be acceptable.

I'm not sure what the best approach here is, but in my personal project I'm using a wrapper like

```rust
pub struct DirWithPath {
dir: Dir,
path: PathBuf,
}
```

with a constructor like

```rust
pub fn open_ambient_dir>(path: P, ambient_authority: AmbientAuthority) -> io::Result {
Dir::open_ambient_dir(path.as_ref(), ambient_authority).map(|dir| Self {
dir,
path: path.as_ref().to_path_buf(),
})
}
```

and an `open_dir` method that concatenates the path:

```rust
pub fn open_dir>(self: &Self, path: P) -> io::Result {
let full_path = self.path.join(path.as_ref());
self.dir.open_dir(path).map(|dir| Self {
dir,
path: full_path,
})
}
```

One issue with maintaining my own wrapper is that I can't use e.g `ProjectDirs` from `cap-directories` because its methods return `Dir`s, so the paths are unknown. I would have to wrap `directories_next` directly.

I wonder if it would be useful for other people if something like this was added to cap-std (with appropriate warnings with respect to it breaking the capability model)?

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reviewing the existing cap-std `Dir` APIs and the `ProjectDirs` methods from `cap-directories`, then examine how the proposed wrapper tracks paths. Done would require an agreed API and documented capability-model warnings; the issue does not name files or tests to update.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
operating-systems, security
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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