netrc module looks for .netrc even on Windows where the convention is _netrc

[jheiselman]

BPO	43980
Nosy	@stevendaprano, @jheiselman
PRs	gh-88146: Set default netrc file name correctly on Windows #25732

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = None
created_at = <Date 2021-04-29.20:02:55.304>
labels = ['type-feature', 'library', '3.10', '3.11']
title = 'netrc module looks for .netrc even on Windows where the convention is _netrc'
updated_at = <Date 2021-04-29.21:42:22.735>
user = 'https://github.com/jheiselman'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2021-04-29.21:42:22.735>
actor = 'jheiselman'
assignee = 'none'
closed = False
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = ['Library (Lib)']
creation = <Date 2021-04-29.20:02:55.304>
creator = 'jheiselman'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 43980
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 4.0
messages = ['392348', '392349', '392355', '392356']
nosy_count = 2.0
nosy_names = ['steven.daprano', 'jheiselman']
pr_nums = ['25732']
priority = 'normal'
resolution = None
stage = 'patch review'
status = 'open'
superseder = None
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue43980'
versions = ['Python 3.10', 'Python 3.11']

[jheiselman]

The netrc library defaults to looking for the .netrc file in the user's home directory. On Windows, this file is conventionally named _netrc. While one could pass the correct path to the library, the conventionally correct path should be used on all supported platforms.

[jheiselman]

Created a simple PR to correct this.

[stevendaprano]

This is a behaviour change not a simple bug fix. 3.6 through 3.9 are all in feature-freeze, and we're days away from the same for 3.10.

Not that I don't believe you about the _netrc convention on Windows, but do you have a link to a reliable source documenting that?

[jheiselman]

The netrc file has no formal standard, but the following supports the claim of its conventional naming.

Excerpt from https://curl.se/docs/manpage.html#-n:
"Makes curl scan the .netrc (_netrc on Windows) file in the user's home directory for login name and password."

Excerpt from https://www.labkey.org/Documentation/wiki-page.view?name=netrc:
"On a Mac, UNIX, or Linux system the netrc file should be named .netrc (dot netrc) and on Windows it should be named _netrc (underscore netrc)."

And a 9+ year old stack overflow post indicating that the use of _netrc on Windows is quite well established and has been for some time. I know it's not authoritative, but it does establish the length of history for this.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6031214/git-how-to-use-netrc-file-on-windows-to-save-user-and-password