Hi there, I recently discovered a change in the behaviour of "rm" regarding symbolic links when comparing Red Hat Linux 7.2 (fileutils 4.1) and Red Hat Linux 8.0 (fileutils 4.1.9) which I cannot explain. I'd be happy if anybody could explain that behaviour, or if this can be alternatively filed as a bug. I saw that 4.1.9 is from alpha.gnu.org; is Red Hat just too bleeding edge again here..?
Here is what happens with fileutils 4.1 on Red Hat 7.2: # mkdir testdir1 # ln -s testdir1 testdir2 Case A: # rm -i testdir2 rm: remove `testdir2'? y (Symlink removed) Case B: # rm -i testdir2/ rm: remove `testdir2'? y (Symlink removed) So there obviously is no difference between "testdir2" and "testdir2/". Now the same with fileutils 4.1.9 on Red Hat 8.0: # mkdir testdir1 # ln -s testdir1 testdir2 Case A: # rm -i testdir2 rm: remove symbolic link `testdir2'? y (Symlink removed) Case B: # rm testdir2/ rm: remove directory `testdir2/'? y rm: cannot remove directory `testdir2/': Not a directory (Symlink not removed) So suddenly "testdir2" is seen as a directory instead of a symlink if you put a "/" behind it (which automatically happens if you use the TAB key). Let's go a bit further (still being on Red Hat 8.0): # mkdir testdir1 # touch testdir1/testfile # ln -s testdir1 testdir2 Now deleting: # rm -i testdir2/ rm: remove directory `testdir2/'? y rm: remove regular empty file `testdir2//testfile'? y rm: remove directory `testdir2/'? y rm: cannot remove directory `testdir2/': Not a directory (testfile removed) More brutal, more surprising: # rm -rf testdir2/ rm: cannot remove `testdir2/': Not a directory (testfile NOT removed!) So, using "rm -i" and always say "yes, do it" does NOT produce the same results as "rm -rf", which doesn't delete anything, even not the symlink itself. Isn't that confusing? Any explanations are appreciated. Jonas
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