Just to close the loop on this subject: Corinna more or less convinced me that breaking backwards compatibility isn't a good idea at this time. So, I've introduced the previously-mentioned kludge into cygwin sources. So, recent snapshots have reverted to the slow method for filling out command line arguments. FYI. cgf -- Unsubscribe info: http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple Problem reports: http://cygwin.com/problems.html Documentation: http://cygwin.com/docs.html FAQ: http://cygwin.com/faq/