bug#80496: Unexpected "new permissions are ..." message with recursive chmod on Solaris

tag 80496 notabug
close 80496
stop

On 26/02/2026 11:50, Jakub Kulik via GNU coreutils Bug Reports wrote:
> Hi, I just managed to reproduce this on Linux (with coreutils 8.32) as well - not with a symlink, but with a regular file:
> 
>> mkdir test
>> touch test/file
>> chmod 777 test/file
>> chmod -R -w test
> chmod: test/file: new permissions are r-xrwxrwx, not r-xr-xr-x
> 
> So maybe it's just there to warn users that who might not expect this result being affected by the umaks? The 'diagnose_surprises' variable suggests that it might be it.
> 
> Sorry for the noise if that is the case.
> 
> Best regards,
> Jakub
> 
> (and sorry for that Confidential label in the first email - that of course shouldn’t be there).
> 

 From the code:

    "Support nonportable uses like "chmod -w", but diagnose
     surprises due to umask confusion."

Therefore, closing this.

thanks,
Padraig