bug#13601: mv should not silently lose file extended attributes
Collin Funk <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.comp.gnu.core-utils.bugs |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
Paul Eggert <[email protected]> writes: > Since mv ordinarily acts like 'cp --preserve=all' when copying, presumably mv should warn in this situation if cp warns. > > Also, if no mv options other than -i and -f are used, a diagnostic is > needed to conform to the spirit of POSIX, as the POSIX spec says for > this situation "If the duplication of the file characteristics fails > for any reason, mv shall write a diagnostic message to standard error, > but this failure shall not cause mv to modify its exit status."[1] > Contrary to the original bug report POSIX does not require (and > seemingly does not allow) the mv to be aborted if file characteristics > are lost in the copy, but at least the user should be warned about the > situation. Thanks for the link. POSIX seems pretty clear here. The attached patch should fix things. I was tempted to add another option to "struct cp_options", but it was more unwieldy then just setting "require_preserve_xattr" and special casing "move_mode" to not change the exit status. It would be nice to add a test but it seems strace can't inject ENOTSUP. I'll see if I can think of an alternative. Collin
0001-mv-emit-warnings-when-copying-extended-attributes-fa.patch
(text/x-patch, 4.1 KB)
From 4cde26b6beb36e525eda936ffdcdf59d551c1f26 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 Message-ID: <4cde26b6beb36e525eda936ffdcdf59d551c1f26.1786854256.git.collin.funk1@gmail.com> From: Collin Funk <[email protected]> Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2026 21:09:23 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] mv: emit warnings when copying extended attributes fails with ENOTSUP * src/copy.c (copy_reg, copy_interal): Don't change the exit status if copying extended attributes fails and we are 'mv'. * src/copy.h (struct cp_options): Update some commentary. * src/mv.c (cp_option_init): Enable require_preserve_xattr in the cp_options struct. * doc/coreutils.texi (mv invocation): Mention that all errors are emitted, but do not modify the exit status. * NEWS: Mention the bug fix. --- NEWS | 4 ++++ doc/coreutils.texi | 3 ++- src/copy.c | 4 ++-- src/copy.h | 3 +-- src/mv.c | 2 +- 5 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-) diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS index 5415d4d77..3edfbd502 100644 --- a/NEWS +++ b/NEWS @@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ GNU coreutils NEWS -*- outline -*- 'head' and 'tail' now quote names in file headers when needed. [This bug was present in "the beginning".] + 'mv' now warns when copying extended attributes fails with ENOTSUP, e.g., when + moving files to a file system that does not support them. + [bug introduced in coreutils-7.3] + 'numfmt', 'printf', and 'seq' on Solaris, no longer output an extraneous e+00 when using a large precision like "%.5119f". [This bug was present in "the beginning".] diff --git a/doc/coreutils.texi b/doc/coreutils.texi index e4d4db47f..90c2dfcd6 100644 --- a/doc/coreutils.texi +++ b/doc/coreutils.texi @@ -9981,7 +9981,8 @@ @node mv invocation @cindex extended attributes, xattr @command{mv} always tries to copy extended attributes (xattr), which may include SELinux context, ACLs or Capabilities. -Upon failure all but @samp{Operation not supported} warnings are output. +Upon failure all warnings are emitted, but do not modify the exit +status. @cindex prompting, and @command{mv} If a destination file exists but is normally unwritable, standard input diff --git a/src/copy.c b/src/copy.c index a53fb8f8c..c1b72dfb4 100644 --- a/src/copy.c +++ b/src/copy.c @@ -1086,7 +1086,7 @@ copy_reg (char const *src_name, char const *dst_name, if (preserve_xattr) { if (!copy_attr (src_name, source_desc, dst_name, dest_desc, x) - && x->require_preserve_xattr) + && x->require_preserve_xattr && ! x->move_mode) return_val = false; } @@ -2672,7 +2672,7 @@ skip: /* Set xattrs after ownership as changing owners will clear capabilities. */ if (x->preserve_xattr && ! copy_attr (src_name, -1, dst_name, -1, x) - && x->require_preserve_xattr) + && x->require_preserve_xattr && ! x->move_mode) return false; /* The operations beyond this point may dereference a symlink. */ diff --git a/src/copy.h b/src/copy.h index 294cffaaf..f2d10fefd 100644 --- a/src/copy.h +++ b/src/copy.h @@ -234,12 +234,11 @@ struct cp_options while with 'cp --preserve=all' or 'cp -a', it is "false". */ bool require_preserve_xattr; - /* This allows us to output warnings in cases 2 and 4 below, + /* This allows us to output warnings in case 2 below, while being quiet for case 1 (when reduce_diagnostics is true). 1. cp -a try to copy xattrs with no errors 2. cp --preserve=all copy xattrs with all but ENOTSUP warnings 3. cp --preserve=xattr,context copy xattrs with all errors - 4. mv copy xattrs with all but ENOTSUP warnings */ bool reduce_diagnostics; diff --git a/src/mv.c b/src/mv.c index 3ba6f701e..7f0d4f8c3 100644 --- a/src/mv.c +++ b/src/mv.c @@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ cp_option_init (struct cp_options *x) x->require_preserve = false; /* FIXME: maybe make this an option */ x->require_preserve_context = false; x->preserve_xattr = true; - x->require_preserve_xattr = false; + x->require_preserve_xattr = true; x->recursive = true; x->sparse_mode = SPARSE_AUTO; /* FIXME: maybe make this an option */ x->symbolic_link = false; -- 2.55.0