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| author | Jim Meyering <meyering@redhat.com> | 2007-11-16 09:31:15 +0100 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Jim Meyering <meyering@redhat.com> | 2007-11-22 00:19:06 +0100 |
| commit | 2bdc48121916ab0d7bb7d0cb5cee25549c3705c9 (patch) | |
| tree | 8a808a3c99c29aa7f5e958f7bac4f274f8eb753c /doc | |
| parent | fa636dcf6a298a4935ba950d433c33a07d0f8504 (diff) | |
| download | coreutils-2bdc48121916ab0d7bb7d0cb5cee25549c3705c9.tar.xz | |
cp: by default, refuse to copy through a dangling destination symlink
* NEWS: Mention this change.
* doc/coreutils.texi (cp invocation): Describe the new behavior.
* src/copy.c: No longer include "canonicalize.h".
(copy_reg): Upon failure to open a dangling destination symlink, don't
canonicalize the name, but rather fail (default) or, with POSIXLY_CORRECT,
repeat the open call without O_EXCL (potentially dangerous).
* src/copy.h (struct cp_options) [open_dangling_dest_symlink]:
New member. Reorder the others, grouping "bool" and "enum"
members together.
* tests/cp/thru-dangling: Test for changed and new behavior.
* src/cp.c (cp_option_init): Initialize new member.
* src/install.c (cp_option_init): Likewise.
* src/mv.c (cp_option_init): Likewise.
Signed-off-by: Jim Meyering <meyering@redhat.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'doc')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/coreutils.texi | 13 |
1 files changed, 9 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/doc/coreutils.texi b/doc/coreutils.texi index 136a3f7fa..6ed1171de 100644 --- a/doc/coreutils.texi +++ b/doc/coreutils.texi @@ -6920,10 +6920,15 @@ recursively. This default can be overridden with the @option{-H} options. If more than one of these options is specified, the last one silently overrides the others. -When copying to a symbolic link, @command{cp} normally follows the -link when creating or copying to a regular file, even if the link is -dangling. However, @command{cp} does not follow these links when -creating directories or special files. Also, when an option like +When copying to a symbolic link, @command{cp} follows the +link only when it refers to an existing regular file. +However, when copying to a dangling symbolic link, @command{cp} +refuses by default, and fails with a diagnostic, since the operation +is inherently dangerous. This behavior is contrary to historical +practice and to @acronym{POSIX}. +Set @env{POSIXLY_CORRECT} to make @command{cp} attempt to create +the target of a dangling destination symlink, in spite of the possible risk. +Also, when an option like @option{--backup} or @option{--link} acts to rename or remove the destination before copying, @command{cp} renames or removes the symbolic link rather than the file it points to. |