GNU bug report logs - #11912
24.1; 'M' in Dired on a symlink does not refresh the display

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Message #16 received at 11912 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>
Cc: "Michalis V." <mvar.40k <at> gmail.com>, 11912 <at> debbugs.gnu.org,
 Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
Subject: Re: bug#11912: 24.1; 'M' in Dired on a symlink does not refresh the
 display
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2021 10:32:01 -0700

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On 8/24/21 8:40 AM, Lars Ingebrigtsen wrote:

> I'm surprised that the `M' command even tries to do the chmod on the
> symlink.

Unfortunately the M command doesn't know in advance whether chmod will 
work on the symlink, as that is platform and filesystem dependent (this 
is in addition to the usual race-condition problem). So as a practical 
matter the M command must try the chmod and report the failure somehow. 
(Perhaps the reporting could be improved; I expect that's low priority.)

A few things:

* I neglected to document this behavior change, so I just now installed 
the attached to fix that oversight.

* Because of this behavior change, the example Eli gives at the start of 
Bug#11912 is now obsolete, as the bug has been fixed in a different way. 
However, as Eli mentioned, there are other commands (like 'O') where the 
bug is still present.

* And this suggests that some longstanding security and other bugs 
remain in this area. I plan to file more bug reports that will cite 
Bug#11912. If the other bugs are fixed, then Bug#11912 should be 
completely obsolete and can be closed.

[0001-Doc-that-dired-do-chmod-no-longer-follows-symlinks.patch (text/x-patch, attachment)]

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