GNU bug report logs - #61720
BUG: omission of crucial detail in 'chown --reference' man page (vs info)

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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: Michael Coleman <mcolema5 <at> uoregon.edu>
Subject: bug#61720: closed (Re: bug#61720: BUG: omission of crucial detail
 in 'chown --reference' man page (vs info))
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2023 15:29:03 +0000

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Your bug report

#61720: BUG: omission of crucial detail in 'chown --reference' man page (vs info)

which was filed against the coreutils package, has been closed.

The explanation is attached below, along with your original report.
If you require more details, please reply to 61720 <at> debbugs.gnu.org.

-- 
61720: https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=61720
GNU Bug Tracking System
Contact help-debbugs <at> gnu.org with problems

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From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: Michael Coleman <mcolema5 <at> uoregon.edu>, 61720-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#61720: BUG: omission of crucial detail in 'chown --reference'
 man page (vs info)
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2023 15:28:18 +0000

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On 22/02/2023 22:07, Michael Coleman wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> The (RHEL 7) man page for GNU 'chown' has (only) this for the '--reference' flag:
> 
>      use RFILE's owner and group rather than specifying OWNER:GROUP values
> 
> which omits the crucial second sentence, included in the info tree:
> 
>       Change the user and group of each FILE to be the same as those of
>       REF_FILE.  If REF_FILE is a symbolic link, do not use the user and
>       group of the symbolic link, but rather those of the file it refers
>       to.
> 
> (Note that '--no-deference' doesn't affect this behavior.)
> 
> I can't be sure, but I think the GNU build itself is generating this man page, as opposed to it having been created by RHEL.
> 
> I understand that the man pages are secondary and brief, but they shouldn't be actively misleading, IMO.

It is worth stating that in the man page,
especially since one might think --no-dereference might change behavior.

Fixing this with the attached.

Marking this as done.

thanks,
Pádraig

[chown-doc-ref-symlinks.patch (text/x-patch, attachment)]

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From: Michael Coleman <mcolema5 <at> uoregon.edu>
To: "bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org" <bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org>
Subject: BUG: omission of crucial detail in 'chown --reference' man page (vs
 info)
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2023 22:07:27 +0000

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Hi,

The (RHEL 7) man page for GNU 'chown' has (only) this for the '--reference' flag:

    use RFILE's owner and group rather than specifying OWNER:GROUP values

which omits the crucial second sentence, included in the info tree:

     Change the user and group of each FILE to be the same as those of
     REF_FILE.  If REF_FILE is a symbolic link, do not use the user and
     group of the symbolic link, but rather those of the file it refers
     to.

(Note that '--no-deference' doesn't affect this behavior.)

I can't be sure, but I think the GNU build itself is generating this man page, as opposed to it having been created by RHEL.

I understand that the man pages are secondary and brief, but they shouldn't be actively misleading, IMO.

Thanks,
Mike


Michael Coleman
Computational Scientist
Research Advanced Computing Services (HPC)
University of Oregon

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