[New-bugs-announce] [issue36213] subprocess.check_output() fails with OSError: [WinError 87] when current directory name is too long

[Geoff Alexander]

New submission from Geoff Alexander <gdlxn at us.ibm.com>:

I've found that subprocess.check_output() fails on Windows with OSError: [WinError 87] when the current directory's name is too long:

```
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "migration.py", line 169, in <module>
    migrate()
  File "migration.py", line 80, in migrate
    rtc.acceptchangesintoworkspace(rtc.getchangeentriestoaccept(changeentries, history))
  File "c:\Users\GeoffAlexander\Documents\Nirvana\RTC2Git\git-repositories\rtc2git-migration-tool\rtcFunctions.py", line 310, in acceptchangesintoworkspace
    Commiter.addandcommit(changeEntry)
  File "c:\Users\GeoffAlexander\Documents\Nirvana\RTC2Git\git-repositories\rtc2git-migration-tool\gitFunctions.py", line 97, in addandcommit
    Commiter.handle_captitalization_filename_changes()
  File "c:\Users\GeoffAlexander\Documents\Nirvana\RTC2Git\git-repositories\rtc2git-migration-tool\gitFunctions.py", line 130, in handle_captitalization_filename_changes
    files = shell.getoutput("git ls-files")
  File "c:\Users\GeoffAlexander\Documents\Nirvana\RTC2Git\git-repositories\rtc2git-migration-tool\shell.py", line 33, in getoutput
    outputasbytestring = check_output(command, shell=True)
  File "C:\Users\GeoffAlexander\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36\lib\subprocess.py", line 356, in check_output
    **kwargs).stdout
  File "C:\Users\GeoffAlexander\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36\lib\subprocess.py", line 423, in run
    with Popen(*popenargs, **kwargs) as process:
  File "C:\Users\GeoffAlexander\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36\lib\subprocess.py", line 729, in __init__
    restore_signals, start_new_session)
  File "C:\Users\GeoffAlexander\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36\lib\subprocess.py", line 1017, in _execute_child
    startupinfo)
OSError: [WinError 87] The parameter is incorrect
```

Python's subprocess module should handle long directory and files names on Windows where supported.  For older versions of Windows that don't support long directory and file names, an exception with a more informative error message than "OSError: [WinError 87]" should be thrown.

----------
components: Windows
messages: 337307
nosy: Geoff.Alexander, paul.moore, steve.dower, tim.golden, zach.ware
priority: normal
severity: normal
status: open
title: subprocess.check_output() fails with OSError: [WinError 87] when current directory name is too long
versions: Python 3.7

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Python tracker <report at bugs.python.org>
<https://bugs.python.org/issue36213>
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