GNU bug report logs -
#24730
rmdir/mkdir error(s) and/or not working "reciprocally" w/each other
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Reported by: "L. A. Walsh" <coreutils <at> tlinx.org>
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2016 20:02:02 UTC
Severity: normal
Tags: notabug
Done: Eric Blake <eblake <at> redhat.com>
Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.
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Your message dated Tue, 18 Oct 2016 15:33:43 -0500
with message-id <c21afb3d-620b-1b30-18d9-f57beb1a596d <at> redhat.com>
and subject line Re: bug#24730: rmdir/mkdir error(s) and/or not working "reciprocally" w/each other
has caused the debbugs.gnu.org bug report #24730,
regarding rmdir/mkdir error(s) and/or not working "reciprocally" w/each other
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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24730: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=24730
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It doesn't seem rmdir and mkdir are behaving "reciprocally"...
If I type
mkdir -p ./a/b/c # no error
rmdir -p ./a/b/c # get error msg, but a,b,c removed.
1) thinking either rmdir shouldn't generate an error or mkdir should
mkdir -p a/../b # no error
rmdir -p a/../b # error, but a & b removed
2) similar comment to above -- leading to:
for rmdir, if "-p" is used, then as similar to "mkdir -p":
(no error if existing, make parent directories as needed)
rmdir -p should be
"no error if dir not empty, but directories are followed
and deleted as possible".
======> seems to be best wording & solution:
"mkdir -p", it seems should really be restated to:
follow given path and make directories as possible"
then "rmdir -p" could be
"follow given path and delete directories if empty"
Does that look reasonable?
linda w.
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tag 24730 notabug
thanks
On 10/18/2016 02:49 PM, L. A. Walsh wrote:
>
> It doesn't seem rmdir and mkdir are behaving "reciprocally"...
>
> If I type
>
> mkdir -p ./a/b/c # no error
. already exists, so mkdir silently does nothing,
./a needs to be created,
./a/b needs to be created,
./a/b/c needs to be created
> rmdir -p ./a/b/c # get error msg, but a,b,c removed.
./a/b/c needs to be removed,
./a/b needs to be removed,
./a needs to be removed,
. needs to be removed, but you can't do that, hence the error
The apparent asymmetry is due to the POSIX rules on how '.' is treated;
but we can't change the behavior of either of these commands, because
they are both following the POSIX rules.
If you want symmetry, omit the leading './', as in:
$ mkdir -p a/b/c
$ rmdir -p a/b/c
>
> 1) thinking either rmdir shouldn't generate an error or mkdir should
>
> mkdir -p a/../b # no error
a needs to be created,
a/.. already exists, so it silently does nothing,
a/../b needs to be created
> rmdir -p a/../b # error, but a & b removed
a/../b needs to be removed,
a/.. needs to be removed, but you can't do that,
at this point, POSIX is fuzzy whether to attempt to remove 'a', or to
give up since 'a/..' was already an error; but obviously coreutils
removes 'a'
>
> 2) similar comment to above -- leading to:
>
> for rmdir, if "-p" is used, then as similar to "mkdir -p":
> (no error if existing, make parent directories as needed)
>
> rmdir -p should be
> "no error if dir not empty, but directories are followed
> and deleted as possible".
Sadly, while that might be a nicer definition for 'rmdir -p', it doesn't
match the POSIX requirements nor the historical behavior, so we can't
really change it now.
So I'm marking this as not a bug, as there is nothing to change.
--
Eric Blake eblake redhat com +1-919-301-3266
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org
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