fix: normalize directory separators in route file paths for Windows

[jalexiscv]

Description

Fixes #7474 - [4.4] Failed tests on Windows

Problem

On Windows, realpath() returns paths with backslashes (e.g., D:\path\to\file.php) while routeFiles paths use forward slashes (App/Config/Routes.php). This caused in_array() comparison in loadRoutes() to fail, preventing route files from being recognized as already loaded.

This led to tests like testRun404Override failing because the 404 override routes from test support files weren't properly recognized.

Solution

Normalize all realpath() results in RouteCollection to use forward slashes by replacing \ with /. Applied in two locations:

1. loadRoutes() - when normalizing the routeFiles array
2. loadRoutes() - when normalizing the passed routesFile parameter

This makes path comparisons consistent across Windows and Unix platforms.

Changes

One file: system/Router/RouteCollection.php

• loadRoutes(): normalize realpath() results with str_replace('\\', '/', ...)

Ref: #7474
Closes #7474

[mergeable]

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[neznaika0]

To support Windows, you need a comprehensive solution, starting with initialization index.php . Then all paths can be processed with a single normalize_path() function. For tests, you can temporarily replace slashes during assertion.

[paulbalandan]

This is an incomplete fix. As I remember, I have proposed a similar normalize_path() helper function in the past. You can read on that for the history. In order to fix the issue, we would need:

1. A centralised function to do the normalization (e.g. normalize_path())
2. Adapt our testing workflows to run on windows (runs-on: windows-latest)
3. A documentation write up