GNU bug report logs - #62572
cp --no-clobber behavior has changed

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Message #8 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Sam James <sam <at> gentoo.org>
To: Alberto Salvia Novella <es20490446e <at> gmail.com>
Cc: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org, 62572 <at> debbugs.gnu.org,
 Eli Schwartz <eschwartz93 <at> gmail.com>
Subject: Re: bug#62572: cp --no-clobber behavior has changed
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2023 19:30:47 +0100

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Alberto Salvia Novella <es20490446e <at> gmail.com> writes:

> In the past if you did:
> cp --no-clobber $in $out
>
> And "out" existed, "cp" exited with 0. But now, with coreutils 9.2, it
> exists with 1.
>
> Is this on purpose?
>
> (When replying include my email in the field "to", as I'm not subscribed to
> this list)

We hit this in Gentoo at https://bugs.gentoo.org/902751. We concluded
the usage in the ebuild ("build script") was wrong, given that the
coreutils-9.2 NEWS says:
> 'cp -n' and 'mv -n' now exit with nonzero status if they skip their
> action because the destination exists, and likewise for 'cp -i',
> 'ln -i', and 'mv -i' when the user declines.  (POSIX specifies
> this for 'cp -i' and 'mv -i'.)

It still was a bit unexpected though given POSIX doesn't specify -n.

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