Sudo doesn't preserves the command line as-is

Sudo for Windows version

1.0.1

Windows build number

10.0.26100.2605

Other Software

• cmd.exe
• get-command-line or any other program that prints the literal value of GetCommandLineW()

Steps to reproduce

Start the shell cmd.exe and run these commandlines.

1a)

C:\MeinPath\get-command-line.exe hello    world

1b)

sudo run --inline -- C:\MeinPath\get-command-line.exe hello    world

Replace C:\MeinPath\get-command-line.exe with path to your commandline-outputting tool.

Note the four space characters between “hello” and “world”.

2a)

C:\MeinPath\get-command-line.exe hello"    "world

2b)

sudo run --inline -- C:\MeinPath\get-command-line.exe hello"    "world

Expected Behavior

The expected output of command 1a) is:

C:\MeinPath\get-command-line.exe  hello"    "world

and of 1b):

"C:\MeinPath\get-command-line.exe" hello    world

with four spaces between “hello” and “world”!

The expected output of command 2a) is:

C:\MeinPath\get-command-line.exe  hello"    "world

and of 2b):

"C:\MeinPath\get-command-line.exe" hello"    "world

with the quote characters inbetween “hello” and “world”.

cmd preserves the command-line with all spaces, which was entered by the user, when it builds the lpCommandLine argument for CreateProcessW().

Actual Behavior

The actual behavior is, that the output of 1b) is:

"C:\MeinPath\get-command-line.exe" hello world

without four spaces between “hello” and “world”!

And the output of 2b) is actually:

"C:\MeinPath\get-command-line.exe" "hello    world"

with the quote characters around “hello world”.

See this image:

Comments

The reason that I report this bug, is, that not every program on Windows uses the same logic to split commandline into multiple arguments.
The usual convetion is to do it like the Microsoft C-Runtime. But some programs like cmd.exe itself, do it differently.

If the commandline after the two dashes -- is preserved as-is, it would be the best, I think.

Another helpful program to debug these things is my Rust program "create-process-rust".

Start by reproducing the two command pairs in cmd.exe with sudo run --inline -- and compare the output from GetCommandLineW(). Read the CreateProcessW command-line behavior and the Microsoft C Runtime parsing conventions referenced in the report. Done means inline commands preserve the original spacing and embedded quotes shown in the expected outputs.