How One Extra Slash in a CLI's JSON Output Caused Silent Path Comparison Failures
A developer debugging a file path comparison tool discovered that a CLI's machine-readable JSON output was emitting paths with a doubled separator after the drive letter, such as 'C://Users/me/file.ts'. While most filesystem APIs silently tolerate redundant slashes, the malformed path caused string equality checks, cache keys, and deduplication logic to treat identical files as distinct. Before filing a bug report, the developer first verified the raw CLI output to confirm the error originated upstream, not in their own code. Systematic testing of sibling CLI commands revealed the issue was isolated to a single subcommand's structured output formatter, ruling out any shared library or platform-level cause. The findings allowed the developer to submit a precise, well-scoped bug report pointing to one specific formatting site rather than a vague systemic complaint.
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