gh: fix native-cmd PATH-truncation regression check

The padding added to reproduce a large pre-existing PATH appended
onto the runner's own already large inherited PATH instead of
replacing it, pushing the total past the 8191-character command line
length limit of cmd.exe and making INSTALL.bat fail outright with
"The input line is too long" before it even reached the code this
check is meant to exercise. Replace the PATH instead of extending it,
keeping its length controlled and safely between the two limits.

Also drop the bin-directory-in-persisted-PATH check added to
TESTINSTALL.bat: that script is also invoked, to test the cmd shell
environment, by TESTINSTALL_PWSH.ps1 after INSTALL_PWSH.bat, which
intentionally never touches the system PATH, so the check does not
hold there. Move it into the native-cmd job's dedicated verification
step instead, where it is only asserted after the plain INSTALL.bat
flow that is supposed to persist it.

Assisted-by: Claude:claude-sonnet-5
Signed-off-by: Xavier Delaruelle <xavier.delaruelle@cea.fr>

Author: xdelaruelle

.gitattributes

@@ -27,4 +27,3 @@ doc/talk export-ignore
 # flag the CR as a trailing whitespace error
 script/INSTALL.bat whitespace=cr-at-eol
 script/UNINSTALL.bat whitespace=cr-at-eol
-script/TESTINSTALL.bat whitespace=cr-at-eol

.github/workflows/windows_tests.yaml

@@ -48,22 +48,31 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           jar xvf %DIST_WIN%.zip
           cd %DIST_WIN%
-          :: simulate a large pre-existing PATH, such as found in a Visual
-          :: Studio Developer Prompt, to exercise persisting a system PATH
-          :: beyond the legacy 1024-character limit of the 'setx' tool
-          :: previously used here (see GH-654)
+          :: replace (rather than extend) the inherited PATH with a
+          :: controlled value that is still past the legacy 1024-character
+          :: limit of the 'setx' tool previously used here, to simulate a
+          :: large pre-existing PATH such as found in a Visual Studio
+          :: Developer Prompt (see GH-654), while staying safely under the
+          :: 8191-character command line length limit of cmd.exe
           setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
-          for /L %%i in (1,1,60) do set "PATH=!PATH!;C:\dummy-path-segment-%%i"
+          set "PATH=%SYSTEMROOT%\system32;%SYSTEMROOT%"
+          for /L %%i in (1,1,50) do set "PATH=!PATH!;C:\dummy-path-segment-%%i"
           set "PATH=!PATH!;C:\marker-end-of-long-path"
           call INSTALL.bat
       - name: Check persisted PATH is not truncated
         shell: cmd
         run: |
-          reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment" /v PATH | %SYSTEMROOT%\system32\find /i "marker-end-of-long-path" >nul
+          reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment" /v PATH > persisted-path.txt
+          %SYSTEMROOT%\system32\find /i "marker-end-of-long-path" persisted-path.txt >nul
           if errorlevel 1 (
               echo "persisted system PATH truncated: marker entry not found"
               exit /b 1
           )
+          %SYSTEMROOT%\system32\find /i "%MODULE_DIR%" persisted-path.txt >nul
+          if errorlevel 1 (
+              echo "installation 'bin' directory not found in persisted system PATH"
+              exit /b 1
+          )
       - name: Test Modules installation
         shell: cmd
         run: |

script/TESTINSTALL.bat

@@ -14,15 +14,6 @@ if not defined MODULES_CMD (
 
 set FIND=%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\find
 
-:: check installation 'bin' directory is found in persisted system PATH
-:: (current session PATH is not relevant here as it may have been set
-:: independently of what got written to the registry by INSTALL.bat)
-reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment" /v PATH | %FIND% /i "%installpath%\bin" >nul
-if errorlevel 1 (
-    echo "installation 'bin' directory not found in persisted system PATH"
-    exit /b 1
-)
-
 :: check commands exist
 where /Q module.cmd
 if errorlevel 1 (