Pádraig Brady wrote:
That code has been there "from the beginning" and I'm guessing it's to prompt users to allow them to chmod the file in a separate terminal?
If we go back far enough (i.e., before commit 6bf3479 dated 2000-08-27), this message was output only if -f was also given. More recently we've seen similar complaints, e.g.: http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-coreutils/2007-03/msg00130.html
At least the diagnostic wording could be improved so that users who are prompted don't get the false impression that the copy will succeed; POSIX clearly allows this. I installed the attached patches (the second is just a code cleanup). Perhaps that's enough.
From 1e0db24cfb67a85416162bf482801b2ead7a8e8f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Paul Eggert <[email protected]> Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 23:14:43 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 1/2] cp: improve quality of overwrite prompt * src/copy.c (overwrite_prompt): New arg X. All callers changed. Use X to improve the quality of the prompt (Bug#17087). * tests/mv/i-2.sh, tests/mv/i-3.sh: Change test to match new prompt. --- src/copy.c | 12 ++++++++---- tests/mv/i-2.sh | 2 +- tests/mv/i-3.sh | 2 +- 3 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-) diff --git a/src/copy.c b/src/copy.c index 4998386..bd4df05 100644 --- a/src/copy.c +++ b/src/copy.c @@ -1566,7 +1566,8 @@ writable_destination (char const *file, mode_t mode) } static void -overwrite_prompt (char const *dst_name, struct stat const *dst_sb) +overwrite_prompt (struct cp_options const *x, char const *dst_name, + struct stat const *dst_sb) { if (! writable_destination (dst_name, dst_sb->st_mode)) { @@ -1574,7 +1575,10 @@ overwrite_prompt (char const *dst_name, struct stat const *dst_sb) strmode (dst_sb->st_mode, perms); perms[10] = '\0'; fprintf (stderr, - _("%s: try to overwrite %s, overriding mode %04lo (%s)? "), + _((x->unlink_dest_before_opening + || x->unlink_dest_after_failed_open) + ? "%s: replace %s, overriding mode %04lo (%s)? " + : "%s: unwritable %s (mode %04lo, %s); try anyway? "), program_name, quote (dst_name), (unsigned long int) (dst_sb->st_mode & CHMOD_MODE_BITS), &perms[1]); @@ -1638,7 +1642,7 @@ abandon_move (const struct cp_options *x, || (x->interactive == I_UNSPECIFIED && x->stdin_tty && ! writable_destination (dst_name, dst_sb->st_mode))) - && (overwrite_prompt (dst_name, dst_sb), 1) + && (overwrite_prompt (x, dst_name, dst_sb), 1) && ! yesno ())); } @@ -1913,7 +1917,7 @@ copy_internal (char const *src_name, char const *dst_name, if (! S_ISDIR (src_mode) && (x->interactive == I_ALWAYS_NO || (x->interactive == I_ASK_USER - && (overwrite_prompt (dst_name, &dst_sb), 1) + && (overwrite_prompt (x, dst_name, &dst_sb), 1) && ! yesno ()))) return true; } diff --git a/tests/mv/i-2.sh b/tests/mv/i-2.sh index 62d63af..4202b5c 100755 --- a/tests/mv/i-2.sh +++ b/tests/mv/i-2.sh @@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ cp -if e f < y > out 2>&1 || fail=1 # Make sure out contains the prompt. case "$(cat out)" in - "cp: try to overwrite 'f', overriding mode 0000 (---------)?"*) ;; + "cp: replace 'f', overriding mode 0000 (---------)?"*) ;; *) fail=1 ;; esac diff --git a/tests/mv/i-3.sh b/tests/mv/i-3.sh index e03dc99..690af73 100755 --- a/tests/mv/i-3.sh +++ b/tests/mv/i-3.sh @@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ check_overwrite_prompt() { local delay="$1" case "$(cat out)" in - "mv: try to overwrite 'g', overriding mode 0000"*) ;; + "mv: replace 'g', overriding mode 0000"*) ;; *) sleep $delay; return 1;; esac } -- 1.8.5.3
From 6fbac25af9d2227af2611ab33677d61e49be4d9a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Paul Eggert <[email protected]> Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 23:17:02 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 2/2] cp: simplify overwrite logic * src/copy.c (overwrite_ok): Rename from overwrite_prompt. Invoke yesno instead of having the caller do it; that's cleaner. Return bool, not void. All callers changed. --- src/copy.c | 14 +++++++------- 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-) diff --git a/src/copy.c b/src/copy.c index bd4df05..71813dc 100644 --- a/src/copy.c +++ b/src/copy.c @@ -1565,9 +1565,9 @@ writable_destination (char const *file, mode_t mode) || euidaccess (file, W_OK) == 0); } -static void -overwrite_prompt (struct cp_options const *x, char const *dst_name, - struct stat const *dst_sb) +static bool +overwrite_ok (struct cp_options const *x, char const *dst_name, + struct stat const *dst_sb) { if (! writable_destination (dst_name, dst_sb->st_mode)) { @@ -1588,6 +1588,8 @@ overwrite_prompt (struct cp_options const *x, char const *dst_name, fprintf (stderr, _("%s: overwrite %s? "), program_name, quote (dst_name)); } + + return yesno (); } /* Initialize the hash table implementing a set of F_triple entries @@ -1642,8 +1644,7 @@ abandon_move (const struct cp_options *x, || (x->interactive == I_UNSPECIFIED && x->stdin_tty && ! writable_destination (dst_name, dst_sb->st_mode))) - && (overwrite_prompt (x, dst_name, dst_sb), 1) - && ! yesno ())); + && ! overwrite_ok (x, dst_name, dst_sb))); } /* Print --verbose output on standard output, e.g. 'new' -> 'old'. @@ -1917,8 +1918,7 @@ copy_internal (char const *src_name, char const *dst_name, if (! S_ISDIR (src_mode) && (x->interactive == I_ALWAYS_NO || (x->interactive == I_ASK_USER - && (overwrite_prompt (x, dst_name, &dst_sb), 1) - && ! yesno ()))) + && ! overwrite_ok (x, dst_name, &dst_sb)))) return true; } -- 1.8.5.3
