Subject: bug#29266: gzip-1.8.41 test results: help-version and hard links

From: Paul Eggert <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2017 09:09:00 -0800

On 11/16/2017 07:18 AM, Jim Meyering wrote:
> Which is more important? (tempered with qualification that it probably
> doesn't matter at all, since this is in the context of running a
> program (gzexe) that is used very rarely, and even less frequently in
> a context where ln fails to create a hard link):

Yes, you're right, this is bikeshedding on wheels.

>
>   - preserving backup file metadata (that backup may end up being the
> sole copy of the original)
>   - ensuring that the specified name does not go missing briefly
>
> Given that the backup file may be the only remaining copy of the
> original, I prefer the risk of an ephemeral ENOENT, so that we can
> guarantee the running of gzexe does not destroy any file metadata.

That was basically the same analysis I used.

I tried to get fancier by using mv to rename the backup file to a 
"backup backup" file, but even that has problems. My guess is that if we 
don't have hard links we're going to have problems no matter what, so we 
might as well have the simplest problems we can for this rarely-used 
program, and "mv -f" ended up with the easiest-to-explain problem that I 
could think of.