[Python-Dev] Special file "nul" in Windows and os.stat

[Mark Hammond]

> So, the question is what we should do?:
> 
> 1. Rely on the kernel32 function and behaves like it says?
> 
> 2. Return a fixed response for this special file "nul"?
> 
> Personally, I prefer the first one, but it changed the semantic of
> os.path.exists("nul") (but this semantic is not clear, as we get
> different behaviour in different Python versions and windows
> versions).

Note that the same issue would exist for 'aux', 'con' and 'prn' too -
'comXX' 'lptXX' 'clock$' also seem to get special treatment.  I agree it is
unfortunate that the behaviour has changed, but these special names are
broken enough on Windows that (1) seems the sanest thing to do.

Mark