I know this is a minor bug, but still.. Windows allows creation of filenames like "use MoveBufferArea " (note space at the end). When such file is present in current directory, `setup.py sdist` fails with `error: use MoveBufferArea : The system cannot find the file specified`.

Do you get the bug if you put such a filename in the MANIFEST file, or MANIFEST.in, or data_files argument, or something else, or all of them?  If it’s a MANIFEST bug, can you test with quotes around the filename?

The mere presence of this file in directory with setup.py files this error. It is not added in any files.

Wow.  Can you set DISTUTILS_DEBUG=1 in your environment and then copy the full traceback here?  Try to see if other commands like build or check cause the error too.

>python setup.py sdist
{{{
Distribution.parse_config_files():
options (after parsing config files):
no commands known yet
options (after parsing command line):
option dict for 'sdist' command:
  {}
running sdist
Distribution.get_command_obj(): creating 'sdist' command object
checking if setup.py newer than MANIFEST
error: some file : The system cannot find the file specified
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "setup.py", line 17, in <module>
    'Operating System :: OS Independent',
  File "C:\Python25\lib\distutils\core.py", line 151, in setup
    dist.run_commands()
  File "C:\Python25\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 974, in run_commands
    self.run_command(cmd)
  File "C:\Python25\lib\distutils\dist.py", line 994, in run_command
    cmd_obj.run()
  File "C:\Python25\lib\distutils\command\sdist.py", line 143, in run
    self.get_file_list()
  File "C:\Python25\lib\distutils\command\sdist.py", line 237, in get_file_list
    self.filelist.findall()
  File "C:\Python25\lib\distutils\filelist.py", line 48, in findall
    self.allfiles = findall(dir)
  File "C:\Python25\lib\distutils\filelist.py", line 298, in findall
    stat = os.stat(fullname)
WindowsError: [Error 2] The system cannot find the file specified: 'some file '
}}}

> WindowsError: [Error 2] The system cannot find the file specified: 'some file '

The strange thing is that the filename is correct (I feared it was a strip() call somewhere that caused the bug), and that you get a WindowsError.  This makes me think that the fault lies in the OS, not in distutils.  I can’t reproduce your bug on linux2.

Windows Explorer does not so allow, but yes, Windows does. With xp
>>> os.stat('some file ')
nt.stat_result(st_mode=33206, st_ino=6473924464520118, st_dev=0, st_nlink=1, st_uid=0, st_gid=0, st_size=13, st_atime=1304114221, st_mtime=1304114055, st_ctime=1304113961)

Same with full path.

I would go into distutils\filelist.py and print(repr(fullname)) just before the os.stat call to see if there is anything strange. Maybe also try same call interactively like I did above, outside disutils context.