GNU bug report logs - #28341
RFE: focusing on source vs. symptoms (reducing duplicate error ouput)

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: L A Walsh <coreutils <at> tlinx.org>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: RFE: focusing on source vs. symptoms (reducing duplicate error ouput)
Date: Sun, 03 Sep 2017 15:06:49 -0700

(Originally posted w/2 separable issues merged: splitting.)

In copying to a directory from a file system that has no unix
permission bits (from one that does), one gets many duplicate
error messages.  Ex, copying from from a standard linux file
system to a VFAT FS, cp reported:

>  cp -a Valkyrja /l/
cp: preserving permissions for ‘/l/Valkyrja/folder.jpg’: Not supported
cp: preserving permissions for ‘/l/Valkyrja/01 Valkyrja(ヴァルキリア). 
flac’: Not supported
cp: preserving permissions for ‘/l/Valkyrja/02 妖精帝國.flac’: Not 
supported
cp: preserving permissions for ‘/l/Valkyrja/Scans/mo07.jpg’: Not supported
cp: preserving permissions for ‘/l/Valkyrja/Scans/mo05.jpg’: Not supported
cp: preserving permissions for ‘/l/Valkyrja/Scans/mo06.jpg’: Not supported
cp: preserving permissions for ‘/l/Valkyrja/Scans/mo01.jpg’: Not supported
...


If Target file system doesn't support preserving permissions,
it would be more useful to issue 1 error message for the
_source_ of the problem (the directory) than 100's to 1000's of messages
for each failure (symptoms of problem).  Maybe
something along the lines of (w/optional clarification in parens):

>  cp -a Valkyrja /l/
cp: preserving permissions for destination '/l/': Not supported.
   (per-file permissions-Not-supported messages suppressed)

Thanks...
linda

Message #8 received at 28341 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: L A Walsh <coreutils <at> tlinx.org>, 28341 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#28341: RFE: focusing on source vs. symptoms (reducing
 duplicate error ouput)
Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2017 10:38:25 -0700

L A Walsh wrote:
> If Target file system doesn't support preserving permissions,
> it would be more useful to issue 1 error message for the
> _source_ of the problem (the directory)

That would be more useful in some circumstances. However, I expect some people 
are used to the longstanding behavior, which is more in line with what POSIX 
requires. We could add an option to supress chatter, though.

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