GNU bug report logs -
#21699
24.5; Bug in backup-buffer-copy and/or set-file-extended-attributes etc
Previous Next
Reported by: Eli Barzilay <eli <at> barzilay.org>
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2015 04:36:02 UTC
Severity: normal
Found in version 24.5
Done: Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>
Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.
Full log
View this message in rfc822 format
> Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2015 03:50:04 -0400
> From: Eli Barzilay <eli <at> barzilay.org>
> Cc: 21699 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
>
> >> Actually, your suggested variant also returns nil for me.
>
> Well, it would return nil since the result of `file-extended-attributes'
> would include (selinux-context nil nil nil nil)
It always does, AFAICT.
> > I installed a slightly different variant of this (which always invokes
> > the corresponding low-level primitive for each type of extended
> > attributes, instead of skipping all those after the first success), to
> > keep the original semantics.
>
> Well, you added this in the docstring:
>
> Value is t if the function succeeds in setting the attributes.
>
> which is a little vague -- I think that it would be better to say
>
> Value is t if the function succeeds in setting at least one of the
> attributes.
We don't have enough information from the low-level APIs to tell
that. So yes, it's slightly vague, but intentionally so.
> *BUT* I doubt that this is a good idea, since on a system that supports
> both acl and selinux-context you probably want a t result to indicate
> that all of the extended settings worked.
I don't think this is true. Many (maybe most) systems support either
ACLs or SELinux, and for them the function will incorrectly return
nil.
A better way might be to have a test of "null" attributes, and avoid
calling the low-level APIs when the attributes are "null". A separate
issue, I think.
This bug report was last modified 3 years and 31 days ago.
Previous Next
GNU bug tracking system
Copyright (C) 1999 Darren O. Benham,
1997,2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd,
1994-97 Ian Jackson.