uri normalization for remote directories

[marksantcroos]

While trying to debug a piece of code of Vivek, and after discussion with AndreM, we came across the following issue and conclusion:

sftp://username@hostname//etc/passwd and sftp://username@hostname/etc/passwd are supposed to be the same. However, SAGA treats them differently.

There is probably a path normalization missing somewhere.

Recording this here and will tell Vivek to use the "single slash" path format for now.

Might look into it myself too if time permits.

[marksantcroos]

Got bitten by this again, some safety-net to work around it is to construct the Url like this:

remote_dir_url = saga.Url()
remote_dir_url.scheme = 'sftp'
remote_dir_url.host = host.domain
remote_dir_url.path = /var/nsa/logs

[andre-merzky]

I tried to fix a couple of things in the URL class (in utils), and got utterly lost in the code... :( I am not sure I can fix this w/o breaking other parts. I would propose to replace the URL class with something simpler and maintainable...

[oleweidner]

Back in the days I have been on the lookout for a better Python URL class but couldn't really find one.

I would be very careful with changing behavior of the URL class as people as well as adaptors have probably silently put in their own checks and fixes in place or some of the small issues in the URL class. Changing behavior - even though it might be the 'correct' thing to do - might cause random failures elsewhere.

[mturilli]

Is this fixed? If not, I created a PR documenting Mark's workaround. Once merged this can be closed.

[mturilli]

@andre-merzky to be closed after fix in utils is merged