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

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From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: Bernhard Voelker <mail <at> bernhard-voelker.de>, Michael Stone <mstone <at> debian.org>, Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
Cc: 1058752 <at> bugs.debian.org, 62572 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#62572: cp --no-clobber behavior has changed
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2023 14:46:03 +0000

On 16/12/2023 21:46, Bernhard Voelker wrote:
> On 12/15/23 21:13, Michael Stone wrote:
>> On Fri, Dec 15, 2023 at 11:21:06AM -0800, Paul Eggert wrote:
>>> Stlll, Pádraig gave a reasonable summary of why the change was made,

To clarify my summary a little, there I said that -n now _immediately_ fails.
I should have said _silently_ fails.  I.e. the complete copy operation
proceeds as before, and only the exit status is at issue here.

>>> despite its incompatibility with previous behavior. (One thing I'd add
>>> is that the FreeBSD behavior is inherently less race-prone.)
> 
> Whether the implementation is race-prone or not is an internal thing.
> I think we're currently discussing more on a user-perspective level.
> 
> IIUC then the question is whether `cp -n` should continue to behave like
> the (new) `cp --update=none` which returns EXIT_SUCCESS.
> 
> Regardless what other implementations do, when reading the -n description
> from a user's point of view:
> 
>     -n, --no-clobber             do not overwrite an existing file (overrides a
>                                    -u or previous -i option). See also --update
> 
> then I'd expect the tool to just skip existing files like `rsync --ignore-existing`
> does.  In that regard I would be surprised if skipping files would result in an error.
> Well, I would understand if there'd be a '--no-clobber=fail' option.

Agreed we should improve the docs a bit for this option.
I'll apply this at least:

diff --git a/doc/coreutils.texi b/doc/coreutils.texi
index 1f8b356d1..bf0f424d3 100644
--- a/doc/coreutils.texi
+++ b/doc/coreutils.texi
@@ -9057,6 +9057,8 @@ Do not overwrite an existing file; silently fail instead.
 This option overrides a previous
 @option{-i} option.  This option is mutually exclusive with @option{-b} or
 @option{--backup} option.
+See also the @option{--update=none} option which will
+skip existing files but not fail.

 @item -P
 @itemx --no-dereference
diff --git a/src/cp.c b/src/cp.c
index 04a5cbee3..3ccc4c4e6 100644
--- a/src/cp.c
+++ b/src/cp.c
@@ -192,8 +192,8 @@ Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.\n\
   -L, --dereference            always follow symbolic links in SOURCE\n\
 "), stdout);
       fputs (_("\
-  -n, --no-clobber             do not overwrite an existing file (overrides a\n\
-                                 -u or previous -i option). See also --update\n\
+  -n, --no-clobber             ensure no existing files overwritten, and fail\n\
+                                 silently instead. See also --update\n\
 "), stdout);
       fputs (_("\
   -P, --no-dereference         never follow symbolic links in SOURCE\n\


> As Kamil added the option in 2009, I'd assume that the same patch was already
> active in RHEL versions for quite some longer time.
> Now changing the exit code feels kind of rough.

Well RHEL 6 came out a bit after (2010), and had the --no-clobber change,
while RHEL 5 before that did not.

Taking about distros, it's worth noting that the change is Fedora 39
which has been released for a month now.
We'll keep a close eye on issues, but haven't heard much as
of yet at least.

> Therefore, from a pure user's perspective and regarding many years of precedence,
> I am 80:20 for reverting the exit code change.

Thanks for your thoughts,
appreciated as always.

cheers,
Pádraig

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