Users of sponge pointed out that the wording of sponge's man page caused confusion, as "preserves the permissions" has been interpreted as "preserves the permissions and ownership". Thus, mention that file ownership might not be preserved.
Bug-Debian: https://bugs.debian.org/920118 Signed-off-by: Nicolas Schier <nico...@fjasle.eu> --- sponge.docbook | 6 +++++- 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/sponge.docbook b/sponge.docbook index 31bc6db..303d6e6 100644 --- a/sponge.docbook +++ b/sponge.docbook @@ -65,7 +65,11 @@ USA <para> <command>sponge</command> preserves the permissions of the output file - if it already exists. + if it already exists. But in contrast to e.g. + <command>tee</command>, <command>sponge</command> might + not preserve or restore the original file ownership, no + matter whether it has been called by a privileged (root) + user. </para> <para> When possible, <command>sponge</command> creates or updates the -- 2.24.0
