GNU bug report logs - #12365
Incorrect return value of cp with no-clobber option

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From: Jim Meyering <jim <at> meyering.net>
To: Bernhard Voelker <mail <at> bernhard-voelker.de>
Cc: Anoop Sharma <sendtoanoop <at> gmail.com>, 12365-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Eric Blake <eblake <at> redhat.com>, coreutils <coreutils <at> gnu.org>
Subject: bug#12365: Should cp -n return 0, when DEST exists?
Date: Thu, 06 Sep 2012 17:24:02 +0200

Bernhard Voelker wrote:
> On September 6, 2012 at 4:31 PM Eric Blake <eblake <at> redhat.com> wrote:
>
>> $ echo one > bar
>> $ echo two > blah
>> $ cp -n blah bar
>> $ echo $?
>> 0
>> $ cat bar
>> one
>>
>> that FreeBSD also returns 0 in this case, and I don't want to break
>> interoperability.  Therefore, I'm going to close this as a WONTFIX,
>> unless you also get buy-in from the BSD folks.
>
> Actually -n is implemented as if the user had answered 'n'
> when he used the -i option - sure enough without prompting
> the user.
>
>   $ echo n | cp -vi blah bar
>   cp: overwrite `bar'?
>   $ echo $?
>   0
>
> BTW: it's similar with the mv command.
>
>
> The texi page is a bit sparse about the exit value:
>
>   @exitstatus
>
> Maybe it's worth adding a line about the exist status
> when using -n or -i (together with answering 'n')?

Yes, please.  That would be an improvement.

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