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

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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: Bernhard Voelker <mail <at> bernhard-voelker.de>
Cc: tracker <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#15173: closed ([cp] --link overrides dereference settings)
Date: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 23:00:03 +0000

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Your message dated Thu, 07 Nov 2013 23:59:28 +0100
with message-id <527C1B50.20708 <at> bernhard-voelker.de>
and subject line Re: bug#15173: [cp] --link overrides dereference settings
has caused the debbugs.gnu.org bug report #15173,
regarding [cp] --link overrides dereference settings
to be marked as done.

(If you believe you have received this mail in error, please contact
help-debbugs <at> gnu.org.)


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15173: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=15173
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From: Gian Piero Carrubba <gpiero <at> rm-rf.it>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: [cp] --link overrides dereference settings
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 23:40:34 +0200

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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.

$ 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'.

$ cp --version | head -n1
cp (GNU coreutils) 8.21

$ uname -a
Linux caimano 3.10-2-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.10.5-1 (2013-08-07) x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ readlink -f /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6                                                               
/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc-2.17.so

A tentative draft patch is attached. It still lacks unit tests and a way 
to determine if the implementation of linkat() supports flags.
But most of all, please note that I'm not fully aware of the 
implications (including portability issues) of such a change.

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

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;
    }

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]

Anyway, given that x.dereference is set to DEREF_ALWAYS, I think the 
modified behaviour of `cp -l` could be considered correct.

Thanks,
Gian Piero.

[0] I suspect this is for backward compatibility. In principle, I think 
DEREF_UNDEF should always set DEREF_NEVER, but this change would modify 
a common, and well spread, behaviour.

[1] The same stands for '--link', as demonstrated in the first example, 
when 'cp-l' has been created as a hardlink to the symlink (even if for 
different reasons: in that case DEREF_ALWAYS was in place, but linkat() 
didn't follow the symlink).

[draft.patch (text/x-diff, attachment)]

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From: Bernhard Voelker <mail <at> bernhard-voelker.de>
To: Gian Piero Carrubba <gpiero <at> rm-rf.it>
Cc: Eric Blake <eblake <at> redhat.com>,
 Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>,
 Jim Meyering <jim <at> meyering.net>, 15173-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#15173: [cp] --link overrides dereference settings
Date: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 23:59:28 +0100

On 11/07/2013 03:09 PM, Gian Piero Carrubba wrote:
> * [Thu, Nov 07, 2013 at 10:14:05AM +0000] Pádraig Brady:
>> I.E. IMHO your current patch is fine and good.
> 
> Fair enough. In this case please also update the documentation.

Good idea, thanks.
I pushed it in your name (together with Padraig's notes regarding
NEWS and the test case):
http://git.sv.gnu.org/cgit/coreutils.git/commit/?id=bf6bf52d

I'm hereby marking the bug as done.

Thanks again.

Have a nice day,
Berny

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