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From: bug#45886 <45886@debbugs.gnu.org>
To: bug#45886 <45886@debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: Status: mkdir -m argument does not work correctly, applies
 incorrect permissions
Reply-To: bug#45886 <45886@debbugs.gnu.org>
Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2025 19:49:55 +0000

retitle 45886 mkdir -m argument does not work correctly, applies incorrect =
permissions
reassign 45886 coreutils
submitter 45886 Davin McCall <davmac@davmac.org>
severity 45886 normal

thanks


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From: Davin McCall <davmac@davmac.org>
Subject: mkdir -m argument does not work correctly, applies incorrect
 permissions
Message-ID: <4ea6d6a5-dbae-a6f0-e702-1ee1695985da@davmac.org>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2021 17:45:29 +1000
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Coreutils 8.32 (and possibly earlier) "mkdir -m <mode> ..." appears to
ignore parts of the mode specification. POSIX suggests that with -m
specified, the mode is "relative" to a=rwx. That implies a mode of "o-w"
should yield a mode of "rwxrwxr-x", and a mode of "o+w" should yield
"rwxrwxrwx". Instead:

$ mkdir -m o-w t1
$ mkdir -m o+w t2
$ ls -l
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 2 davmac users 4096 Jan 15 17:27 t1
drwxrwxrwx 2 davmac users 4096 Jan 15 17:27 t2
$

So, the "o+w" or "o-w" selects the "other" permissions but also the
"group" permissions. This also happens with "g+w" and "g-w" (i.e. both
"group" and "other" permissions get set or cleared). This implies it's
not just a case of the initial mode not matching POSIX, but somehow "o"
and "g" are being applied incorrectly.

Setting POSIXLY_CORRECT makes no difference.



--------------8480C768328E228D8230C266
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<html>
  <head>

    <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
  </head>
  <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
    <p>Coreutils 8.32 (and possibly earlier) "mkdir -m &lt;mode&gt; ..."
      appears to ignore parts of the mode specification. POSIX suggests
      that with -m specified, the mode is "relative" to a=rwx. That
      implies a mode of "o-w" should yield a mode of "rwxrwxr-x", and a
      mode of "o+w" should yield "rwxrwxrwx". Instead:</p>
    <p>$ mkdir -m o-w t1<br>
      $ mkdir -m o+w t2<br>
      $ ls -l<br>
      total 8<br>
      drwxr-xr-x 2 davmac users 4096 Jan 15 17:27 t1<br>
      drwxrwxrwx 2 davmac users 4096 Jan 15 17:27 t2<br>
      $<br>
    </p>
    <p>So, the "o+w" or "o-w" selects the "other" permissions but also
      the "group" permissions. This also happens with "g+w" and "g-w"
      (i.e. both "group" and "other" permissions get set or cleared).
      This implies it's not just a case of the initial mode not matching
      POSIX, but somehow "o" and "g" are being applied incorrectly.</p>
    <p>Setting POSIXLY_CORRECT makes no difference.</p>
    <p><br>
    </p>
  </body>
</html>

--------------8480C768328E228D8230C266--




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Subject: Re: bug#45886: mkdir -m argument does not work correctly, applies
 incorrect permissions
To: Davin McCall <davmac@davmac.org>
References: <4ea6d6a5-dbae-a6f0-e702-1ee1695985da@davmac.org>
From: Paul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu>
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department
Message-ID: <f67b411c-c89a-6e45-9fa1-64203afd74a3@cs.ucla.edu>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2021 03:03:03 -0800
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Thanks for the bug report. I reproduced the problem and installed the 
attached patch to fix it.

--------------DE8E9032DA0B4892713B7F9E
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>From b8375c422ffe0e018cbb4cad187d1e909195d263 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Paul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2021 02:57:59 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] mkdir: fix bug when -m's more generous than umask

Problem reported by David McCall (Bug#45886).
I introduced this problem when fixing Bug#14371.
* NEWS: Mention the fix.
* src/mkdir.c (struct mkdir_options): New members umask_ancestor,
umask_self, replacing umask_value.
(make_ancestor): Use them when temporarily adjusting umask.
(main): Set them, and set the umask to umask_self instead
of leaving it alone.
* tests/mkdir/perm.sh (tests): Add test case for bug.
---
 NEWS                |  3 +++
 src/mkdir.c         | 30 ++++++++++++++++++------------
 tests/mkdir/perm.sh |  1 +
 3 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)

diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index c2474fee3..a6ba96450 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ GNU coreutils NEWS                                    -*- outline -*-
   ls no longer crashes when printing the SELinux context for unstatable files.
   [bug introduced in coreutils-6.9.91]
 
+  mkdir -m no longer mishandles modes more generous than the umask.
+  [bug introduced in coreutils-8.22]
+
   nl now handles single character --section-delimiter arguments,
   by assuming a second ':' character has been specified, as specified by POSIX.
   [This bug was present in "the beginning".]
diff --git a/src/mkdir.c b/src/mkdir.c
index eccc9d382..b266cee8c 100644
--- a/src/mkdir.c
+++ b/src/mkdir.c
@@ -89,8 +89,11 @@ struct mkdir_options
      made.  */
   int (*make_ancestor_function) (char const *, char const *, void *);
 
-  /* Umask value in effect.  */
-  mode_t umask_value;
+  /* Umask value for when making an ancestor.  */
+  mode_t umask_ancestor;
+
+  /* Umask value for when making the directory itself.  */
+  mode_t umask_self;
 
   /* Mode for directory itself.  */
   mode_t mode;
@@ -130,20 +133,18 @@ make_ancestor (char const *dir, char const *component, void *options)
     error (0, errno, _("failed to set default creation context for %s"),
            quoteaf (dir));
 
-  mode_t user_wx = S_IWUSR | S_IXUSR;
-  bool self_denying_umask = (o->umask_value & user_wx) != 0;
-  if (self_denying_umask)
-    umask (o->umask_value & ~user_wx);
+  if (o->umask_ancestor != o->umask_self)
+    umask (o->umask_ancestor);
   int r = mkdir (component, S_IRWXUGO);
-  if (self_denying_umask)
+  if (o->umask_ancestor != o->umask_self)
     {
       int mkdir_errno = errno;
-      umask (o->umask_value);
+      umask (o->umask_self);
       errno = mkdir_errno;
     }
   if (r == 0)
     {
-      r = (o->umask_value & S_IRUSR) != 0;
+      r = (o->umask_ancestor & S_IRUSR) != 0;
       announce_mkdir (dir, options);
     }
   return r;
@@ -282,8 +283,7 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
   if (options.make_ancestor_function || specified_mode)
     {
       mode_t umask_value = umask (0);
-      umask (umask_value);
-      options.umask_value = umask_value;
+      options.umask_ancestor = umask_value & ~(S_IWUSR | S_IXUSR);
 
       if (specified_mode)
         {
@@ -293,10 +293,16 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
                  quote (specified_mode));
           options.mode = mode_adjust (S_IRWXUGO, true, umask_value, change,
                                       &options.mode_bits);
+          options.umask_self = umask_value & ~options.mode;
           free (change);
         }
       else
-        options.mode = S_IRWXUGO;
+        {
+          options.mode = S_IRWXUGO;
+          options.umask_self = umask_value;
+        }
+
+      umask (options.umask_self);
     }
 
   return savewd_process_files (argc - optind, argv + optind,
diff --git a/tests/mkdir/perm.sh b/tests/mkdir/perm.sh
index 4d36f19b5..083a47733 100755
--- a/tests/mkdir/perm.sh
+++ b/tests/mkdir/perm.sh
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ tests='
     050  :   -m 312   : drwx-w-rwx : d-wx--x-w- :
     160  :   empty    : drwx--xrwx : drw---xrwx :
     160  :   -m 743   : drwx--xrwx : drwxr---wx :
+    022  :   -m o-w   : drwxr-xr-x : drwxrwxr-x :
     027  :   -m =+x   : drwxr-x--- : d--x--x--- :
     027  :   -m =+X   : drwxr-x--- : d--x--x--- :
     -    :   -        : last       : last       :
-- 
2.27.0


--------------DE8E9032DA0B4892713B7F9E--




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