GNU bug report logs - #39613
stat(1) shouldn't call permissions "Access..."

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

From: 積丹尼 Dan Jacobson <jidanni <at> jidanni.org>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: stat(1) shouldn't call permissions "Access..."
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2020 10:15:18 +0800

(info "(coreutils) stat invocation") says,
   • %a - Access rights in octal (note ‘#’ and ‘0’ printf flags)
   • %A - Access rights in human readable form

But man find says,
       -perm mode
              File's permission bits are exactly mode (octal or symbolic).  Since an exact match is required,  if
              you want to use this form for symbolic modes, you may have to specify a rather complex mode string.
              For example `-perm g=w' will only match files which have mode 0020 (that is, ones for  which  group
              write  permission is the only permission set).  It is more likely that you will want to use the `/'
              or `-' forms, for example `-perm -g=w', which matches any file with group  write  permission.   See
              the EXAMPLES section for some illustrative examples.

       -perm -mode
              All  of  the  permission bits mode are set for the file.  Symbolic modes are accepted in this form,
              and this is usually the way in which you would want to use them.  You must specify `u', `g' or  `o'
              if you use a symbolic mode.  See the EXAMPLES section for some illustrative examples.

       -perm /mode
              Any  of  the  permission bits mode are set for the file.  Symbolic modes are accepted in this form.
              You must specify `u', `g' or `o' if you use a symbolic mode.  See the EXAMPLES section for some il‐
              lustrative  examples.   If no permission bits in mode are set, this test matches any file (the idea
              here is to be consistent with the behaviour of -perm -000).

       -perm +mode
              This is no longer supported (and has been deprecated since 2005).  Use -perm /mode instead.


So stat's man and Info pages shouldn't use "Access" to talk about them.
Especially as it pretty much means something else:

       -readable
              Matches files which are readable by the current user.  This takes into account access control lists
              and other permissions artefacts which the -perm test ignores.  This test makes use of the access(2)
              system call, and so can be fooled by NFS servers which do UID mapping  (or  root-squashing),  since
              many  systems  implement access(2) in the client's kernel and so cannot make use of the UID mapping
              information held on the server.

Message #10 received at 39613-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: 積丹尼 Dan Jacobson <jidanni <at> jidanni.org>,
 39613-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#39613: stat(1) shouldn't call permissions "Access..."
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2020 11:27:46 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On 15/02/2020 02:15, 積丹尼 Dan Jacobson wrote:
> (info "(coreutils) stat invocation") says,
>     • %a - Access rights in octal (note ‘#’ and ‘0’ printf flags)
>     • %A - Access rights in human readable form

Fair enough, as one might be confused that ACL info may be output.
This may be done in future, but until such time we can use
more accurate terminology.

I'll apply the attached later.
Marking this as done.

thanks,
Pádraig

[stat-a-doc.patch (text/x-patch, attachment)]

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