GNU bug report logs - #15173
[cp] --link overrides dereference settings

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From: Bernhard Voelker <mail <at> bernhard-voelker.de>
To: Gian Piero Carrubba <gpiero <at> rm-rf.it>
Cc: 15173 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#15173: [cp] --link overrides dereference settings
Date: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 03:11:04 +0200

Hello Gian,

On 08/23/2013 11:40 PM, Gian Piero Carrubba wrote:
> Please keep me in Cc: as I'm not subscribed.
> 
> I failed to find references to discussions about this (intended?) 
> behaviour, so I'm filing this report. Please forgive me if I've missed 
> something elementary.

thanks for your bug report, the thorough thoughts about it and the
patch proposal.

> $ echo testfile > file; ln -s file link; opts="-l -Ll -Hl";
> for o in $opts; do cp $o link cp${o}; done;
> ls -li
> 
> total 4
> 3358742 lrwxrwxrwx 4 gpiero gpiero 4 Aug 23 22:27 cp-Hl -> file
> 3358742 lrwxrwxrwx 4 gpiero gpiero 4 Aug 23 22:27 cp-Ll -> file
> 3358742 lrwxrwxrwx 4 gpiero gpiero 4 Aug 23 22:27 cp-l -> file
> 3358741 -rw-r--r-- 1 gpiero gpiero 9 Aug 23 22:27 file
> 3358742 lrwxrwxrwx 4 gpiero gpiero 4 Aug 23 22:27 link -> file
> 
> I would have expected both 'cp-Hl' and 'cp-Ll' to be hardlinked to 
> 'file', not to 'link'.

I'd also say that the above is an error ... or at least contradicts
to what is documented in the code (copy.c, line 2377):

   Yet cp, invoked with '--link --no-dereference',
   should not follow the link.

> --- old-coreutils/src/copy.c	2013-08-23 22:16:15.938940800 +0200
> +++ new-coreutils/src/copy.c	2013-08-23 22:16:15.942940823 +0200
> @@ -1566,10 +1566,15 @@
>     be created as a symbolic link to SRC_NAME.  */
>  static bool
>  create_hard_link (char const *src_name, char const *dst_name,
> -                  bool replace, bool verbose)
> +                  bool replace, bool verbose, bool dereference)
>  {
> -  /* We want to guarantee that symlinks are not followed.  */
> -  bool link_failed = (linkat (AT_FDCWD, src_name, AT_FDCWD, dst_name, 0) != 0);
> +  int flags;
> +  if (dereference)
> +    flags = AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW;
> +  else
> +    flags = 0; /* We want to guarantee that symlinks are not followed.  */
> +
> +  bool link_failed = (linkat (AT_FDCWD, src_name, AT_FDCWD, dst_name, flags) != 0);
>  
>   /* If the link failed because of an existing destination,
>       remove that file and then call link again.  */

Instead of passing 'flags' to linkat (of which I don't know if it works
on all platforms), I'd rather dereference the symlink manually:

  char *src_name_new = canonicalize_filename_mode (src_name, CAN_EXISTING);

> AFAICS, at least in one case the patch changes the behaviour of cp:
> 
> $ echo testfile > file; ln -s file link;
> cp -l link cp-l.old; ../src/cp -l link cp-l.new;
> ls -li
> 
> total 8
> 8912975 -rw-r--r-- 2 gpiero gpiero 9 Aug 23 22:58 cp-l.new
> 8913010 lrwxrwxrwx 2 gpiero gpiero 4 Aug 23 22:58 cp-l.old -> file
> 8912975 -rw-r--r-- 2 gpiero gpiero 9 Aug 23 22:58 file
> 8913010 lrwxrwxrwx 2 gpiero gpiero 4 Aug 23 22:58 link -> file

Not ideal ...

> This is caused by the following code:
> 
> $ tail -n+1135 src/cp.c | head -n8
>    if (x.dereference == DEREF_UNDEFINED)
>      {
>        if (x.recursive)
>          /* This is compatible with FreeBSD.  */
>          x.dereference = DEREF_NEVER;
>        else
>          x.dereference = DEREF_ALWAYS;
>      }

Good analysis!
My guess is that this because POSIX [1] allows either behavior:

  If source_file is a file of type symbolic link:
  [...]
  If the -R option was specified:
  If none of the options -H, -L, nor -P were specified, it is
  unspecified which of -H, -L, or -P will be used as a default.

[1] http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/cp.html

This means that coreutils has chosen in between what makes most sense
and compatibility to other implementations.

> Not sure why this snippet is there[0], but it seems to me that it leads 
> to inconsistent behaviour:
> 
> $ echo testfile > file; ln -s file link;
> cp link cp; cp -r link cp-r;
> ls -li
> 
> total 8
> 3358743 -rw-r--r-- 1 gpiero gpiero 9 Aug 23 23:06 cp
> 3358744 lrwxrwxrwx 1 gpiero gpiero 4 Aug 23 23:06 cp-r -> file
> 3358741 -rw-r--r-- 1 gpiero gpiero 9 Aug 23 23:06 file
> 3358742 lrwxrwxrwx 1 gpiero gpiero 4 Aug 23 23:06 link -> file
> 
> I think it is counterintuitive that '--recursive' had effects on the 
> referentiation of the link.[1]

I think that is correct as POSIX requires this (see also in [1] above).

Instead, I'd change the above initialization of x.dereference in the
case the --link option is specified.

I have wrapped it for you into a Git patch (below), yet without a test
case.

This is the result:

  $ : > file; ln -s file link
  $ for opt in "" -l -lH -lL -lP -r ; do cp $opt link cp$opt ; done
  $ ls -ldogi link file cp*
  15335993 -rw-r--r-- 1 0 Oct 20 03:09 cp
  15335992 lrwxrwxrwx 3 4 Oct 20 03:08 cp-l -> file
  15335991 -rw-r--r-- 3 0 Oct 20 03:08 cp-lH
  15335991 -rw-r--r-- 3 0 Oct 20 03:08 cp-lL
  15335992 lrwxrwxrwx 3 4 Oct 20 03:08 cp-lP -> file
  15335994 lrwxrwxrwx 1 4 Oct 20 03:09 cp-r -> file
  15335991 -rw-r--r-- 3 0 Oct 20 03:08 file
  15335992 lrwxrwxrwx 3 4 Oct 20 03:08 link -> file

WDYT?

BTW: tests/cp/same-file.sh now fails with the patch.

Have a nice day,
Berny


From fca06077e11d6338b35029bc61fbee5dbfb5ab66 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Gian Piero Carrubba <gpiero <at> rm-rf.it>
Date: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 03:04:41 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] cp: fix --link --dereference [DRAFT]

* src/copy.c (create_hard_link): Add a bool 'dereference' parameter,
and canonicalize the given src_name when dereference is true.
(copy_internal): Add a value for the above new parameter in all
three calls to create_hard_link: true if the src_name should be
dereferenced before creating the hard link, false otherwise.
* src/cp.c (main): after parsing the options, if x.dereference is
still DEFEF_UNDEFINED and the --links option was specified, initialize
x.dereference to DEREF_NEVER.
* NEWS (Changes in behavior): Mention the change.

This fixes http://bugs.gnu.org/15173
---
 NEWS       |  4 ++++
 src/copy.c | 42 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------
 src/cp.c   |  2 +-
 3 files changed, 35 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)

diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 39dd3d6..c1d637c 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -70,6 +70,10 @@ GNU coreutils NEWS                                    -*- outline -*-

 ** Changes in behavior

+  cp --link --dereference now dereferences a symbolic link as source files
+  before creating the hard link in the destination.
+  Previously, it would create a hard link of the symbolic link.
+
   dd status=none now suppresses all non fatal diagnostic messages,
   not just the transfer counts.

diff --git a/src/copy.c b/src/copy.c
index f66ab46..fa4d734 100644
--- a/src/copy.c
+++ b/src/copy.c
@@ -1558,18 +1558,23 @@ restore_default_fscreatecon_or_die (void)
            _("failed to restore the default file creation context"));
 }

-/* Create a hard link DST_NAME to SRC_NAME, honoring the REPLACE and
-   VERBOSE settings.  Return true upon success.  Otherwise, diagnose
-   the failure and return false.
-   If SRC_NAME is a symbolic link it will not be followed.  If the system
-   doesn't support hard links to symbolic links, then DST_NAME will
-   be created as a symbolic link to SRC_NAME.  */
+/* Create a hard link DST_NAME to SRC_NAME, honoring the REPLACE,
+   VERBOSE and DEREFERENCE settings.  Return true upon success.
+   Otherwise, diagnose the failure and return false.
+   If SRC_NAME is a symbolic link it will not be followed unless DEREFERENCE
+   is true.  If the system doesn't support hard links to symbolic links,
+   then DST_NAME will be created as a symbolic link to SRC_NAME.  */
 static bool
 create_hard_link (char const *src_name, char const *dst_name,
-                  bool replace, bool verbose)
+                  bool replace, bool verbose, bool dereference)
 {
+  char *src_deref = NULL;
+  if (dereference)
+    src_deref = canonicalize_filename_mode (src_name, CAN_EXISTING);
+
   /* We want to guarantee that symlinks are not followed.  */
-  bool link_failed = (linkat (AT_FDCWD, src_name, AT_FDCWD, dst_name, 0) != 0);
+  bool link_failed = (linkat (AT_FDCWD, dereference ? src_deref : src_name,
+                              AT_FDCWD, dst_name, 0) != 0);

   /* If the link failed because of an existing destination,
      remove that file and then call link again.  */
@@ -1578,13 +1583,17 @@ create_hard_link (char const *src_name, char const *dst_name,
       if (unlink (dst_name) != 0)
         {
           error (0, errno, _("cannot remove %s"), quote (dst_name));
+          free (src_deref);
           return false;
         }
       if (verbose)
         printf (_("removed %s\n"), quote (dst_name));
-      link_failed = (linkat (AT_FDCWD, src_name, AT_FDCWD, dst_name, 0) != 0);
+      link_failed = (linkat (AT_FDCWD, dereference ? src_deref : src_name,
+                             AT_FDCWD, dst_name, 0) != 0);
     }

+  free (src_deref);
+
   if (link_failed)
     {
       error (0, errno, _("cannot create hard link %s to %s"),
@@ -1748,7 +1757,10 @@ copy_internal (char const *src_name, char const *dst_name,
                       /* Note we currently replace DST_NAME unconditionally,
                          even if it was a newer separate file.  */
                       if (! create_hard_link (earlier_file, dst_name, true,
-                                              x->verbose))
+                                              x->verbose,
+                                              x->dereference == DEREF_ALWAYS
+                                              || (x->dereference == DEREF_COMMAND_LINE_ARGUMENTS
+                                                  && command_line_arg)))
                         {
                           goto un_backup;
                         }
@@ -2078,7 +2090,10 @@ copy_internal (char const *src_name, char const *dst_name,
         }
       else
         {
-          if (! create_hard_link (earlier_file, dst_name, true, x->verbose))
+          if (! create_hard_link (earlier_file, dst_name, true, x->verbose,
+                                  x->dereference == DEREF_ALWAYS
+                                  || (x->dereference == DEREF_COMMAND_LINE_ARGUMENTS
+                                      && command_line_arg)))
             goto un_backup;

           return true;
@@ -2389,7 +2404,10 @@ copy_internal (char const *src_name, char const *dst_name,
            && !(LINK_FOLLOWS_SYMLINKS && S_ISLNK (src_mode)
                 && x->dereference == DEREF_NEVER))
     {
-      if (! create_hard_link (src_name, dst_name, false, false))
+      if (! create_hard_link (src_name, dst_name, false, false,
+                              x->dereference == DEREF_ALWAYS
+                              || (x->dereference == DEREF_COMMAND_LINE_ARGUMENTS
+                                  && command_line_arg)))
         goto un_backup;
     }
   else if (S_ISREG (src_mode)
diff --git a/src/cp.c b/src/cp.c
index 7bc8630..6efb152 100644
--- a/src/cp.c
+++ b/src/cp.c
@@ -1135,7 +1135,7 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)

   if (x.dereference == DEREF_UNDEFINED)
     {
-      if (x.recursive)
+      if (x.recursive || x.hard_link)
         /* This is compatible with FreeBSD.  */
         x.dereference = DEREF_NEVER;
       else
-- 
1.8.3.1

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