Tracking Issue for `normalize_lexically`

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Feature gate: #![feature(normalize_lexically)]

This is a tracking issue for Path::normalize_lexically that is used to normalize a path, including .. parent references, without touching the filesystem.

Public API

// std::path

impl Path {
    pub fn normalize_lexically(&self) -> Result<PathBuf, NormalizeError> {
}

Steps / History

• API Change Proposal
• Implementation: #134696
• Final comment period (FCP)^1
• Stabilization PR

Unresolved Questions

• Should PathBuf have a method that normalizes in-place? Normalizing a path just removes components.
• Should this disallow resolving to the empty path or the single . path.
• Should this only allow paths without a root or prefix? It may be surprising that base_path.join(user_path.normalize_lexically()?) can still escape the base path.

The last two can be summarised as: should this strictly require paths to be sub-paths?

Start with the public API for std::path::Path::normalize_lexically and read the linked API Change Proposal and implementation PR #134696. Review the unresolved questions about in-place normalization, empty or . results, and rooted or prefixed paths. Done means the design questions are resolved and the feature can proceed through the final comment period and stabilization PR.