GNU bug report logs - #44587
ls prints garbage when listing contents of a directory without exec permissions

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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
Cc: tracker <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#44587: closed (ls prints garbage when listing contents of a
 directory without exec permissions)
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2020 03:42:02 +0000

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Your message dated Wed, 11 Nov 2020 19:41:08 -0800
with message-id <c544f227-6484-447d-0ce3-6a9ad49a3a72 <at> cs.ucla.edu>
and subject line Re: bug#44587: ls prints garbage when listing contents of a directory without exec permissions
has caused the debbugs.gnu.org bug report #44587,
regarding ls prints garbage when listing contents of a directory without exec permissions
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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From: Jan Schaumann <jschauma <at> netmeister.org>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: ls prints garbage when listing contents of a directory without exec
 permissions
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 2020 18:24:17 -0500

When running 'ls -l' on a directory that the user does
not have execute permissions on, ls(1) still attempts
to generate the long listing and prints the various
fields with garbage:

$ mkdir dir
$ touch dir/file
$ chmod a-x dir
$ ls -ld dir
drw-r--r-- 2 jschauma users 28 Nov 11 23:15 dir
$ ls -la dir
ls: cannot access dir/.: Permission denied
ls: cannot access dir/..: Permission denied
ls: cannot access dir/file: Permission denied
total 0
d????????? ? ? ? ?            ? .
d????????? ? ? ? ?            ? ..
-????????? ? ? ? ?            ? file
$ 


Expected output:

$ ls -la dir
ls: cannot access dir/.: Permission denied
ls: cannot access dir/..: Permission denied
ls: cannot access dir/file: Permission denied
$ 

This is coreutils-8.32.

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From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Jan Schaumann <jschauma <at> netmeister.org>
Cc: 44587-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#44587: ls prints garbage when listing contents of a directory
 without exec permissions
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 2020 19:41:08 -0800

On 11/11/20 3:24 PM, Jan Schaumann wrote:
> $ ls -la dir
> ls: cannot access dir/.: Permission denied
> ls: cannot access dir/..: Permission denied
> ls: cannot access dir/file: Permission denied
> total 0
> d????????? ? ? ? ?            ? .
> d????????? ? ? ? ?            ? ..
> -????????? ? ? ? ?            ? file
> $
> 
> 
> Expected output:
> 
> $ ls -la dir
> ls: cannot access dir/.: Permission denied
> ls: cannot access dir/..: Permission denied
> ls: cannot access dir/file: Permission denied

As Bernhard mentioned, the actual output is intentional. The expected output 
would be less useful, as it would give the user a bit less information (e.g., it 
would not tell the user where 'file' is a regular file or a directory).

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