[SoftTalker]

There's no guarantee that the name and the path are still the same executable that is running, or that they even exist anymore.

[wang_li]

In most of the variants of exec*() there are separate arguments for the thing to be executed and the *argv[] list. Argv[0] being the executable is just a convention. In perl $ARGV[0] is the first positional parameter. In

    $ perl myscript.pl a b c

$ARGV[0] is "a".

[mistercow]

I mean sure. All software is built on assumptions. Make sure the assumptions you’re making are appropriate in context.

[wongarsu]

Unless you are on Windows

[glandium]

You can actually rename an executable that is running, on Windows. That's a way to handle self updates: rename the executable, create its replacement, execute the new one to make it remove the old executable.