From: JJ <jjnoakes@...>
Date: 2008-01-08T23:40:00+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby's Kernel::exec (and system and %x)

> Try this convolution:
>
> exec('start "" "C:\Program Files\Anything\Foo.exe" ')

What a terrible idea. All I want to do is start a command directly
with no shell in the picture, from Ruby, in a cross-platform way, and
you suggest a Windows-specific workaround with a shell built-in?

> I hope this is handy for anyone used to a *nix platform, launching executables, and wanting to go cross-platform to Windows.

I sincerely hope no serious programmer ever uses this suggestion on
Windows, *nix, or anywhere else.

The correct answer here is a simple call in Ruby that executes the
file directly without passing it to a shell interpreter.

-JJ