On Thu, Sep 6, 2012 at 8:03 PM, GNU bug Tracking System <help-debb...@gnu.org> wrote: > Your bug report > > #12365: Incorrect return value of cp with no-clobber option > > which was filed against the coreutils package, has been closed. > > The explanation is attached below, along with your original report. > If you require more details, please reply to 12...@debbugs.gnu.org. > > -- > 12365: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=12365 > GNU Bug Tracking System > Contact help-debb...@gnu.org with problems > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Eric Blake <ebl...@redhat.com> > To: Anoop Sharma <sendtoan...@gmail.com> > Cc: 12365-d...@debbugs.gnu.org, coreutils <coreut...@gnu.org> > Date: Thu, 06 Sep 2012 08:31:53 -0600 > Subject: Re: Should cp -n return 0, when DEST exists? > tag 12365 wontfix > thanks > > On 09/06/2012 04:50 AM, Anoop Sharma wrote: >> When -n option of cp is used and the DEST file exists, then, as >> expected, cp is not able to copy the SOURCE to DEST. >> >> However, cp returns 0 in this case. > > cp -n is not mandated by POSIX, so we are free to do as we wish here. > But looking at history, we added -n for coreutils 7.1 in Feb 2009, and > the mail from that thread includes: > https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-coreutils/2008-12/msg00159.html > > which states we are modeling after FreeBSD. A quick check on my FreeBSD > 8.2 VM shows: > > $ echo one > bar > $ echo two > blah > $ cp -n blah bar > $ echo $? > 0 > $ cat bar > one > > that FreeBSD also returns 0 in this case, and I don't want to break > interoperability. Therefore, I'm going to close this as a WONTFIX, > unless you also get buy-in from the BSD folks. > > By the way, there's no need to post three separate emails with the same > contents, without first waiting at least 24 hours. Like most other > moderated GNU lists, you do not have to be a subscriber to post, and > even if you are a subscriber, your first post to a given list will be > held in a moderation queue for as long as it takes for a human to > approve your email address as a non-spammer for all future posts > (generally less than a day). > > -- > Eric Blake ebl...@redhat.com +1-919-301-3266 > Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Anoop Sharma <sendtoan...@gmail.com> > To: bug-coreutils@gnu.org > Cc: > Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2012 17:27:52 +0530 > Subject: Incorrect return value of cp with no-clobber option > When -n (--no-clobber) option of cp is used and the DEST file exists, then, as > expected, cp is not able to copy the SOURCE to DEST. > > However, cp returns 0 in this case. > > Shouldn't it return 1 to indicate that copy operation could not be completed? > > In absence of this indication how is one to know that some recovery > action like re-trying cp with some other DEST name is required? > > Regards, > Anoop > > >
Thank you, Eric. I am a newbie to open source development tools and processes. I had posted earlier to bug-coreutils@gnu.org and had got an acknowledgement mail immediately. Subsequently, I subscribed to coreut...@gnu.org and have now been subscribed for more than a month. I originally posted this mail to that list for discussion. However, there was no acknowledgement from there and I mistakenly assumed that some spam filter is stopping my mails from reaching the list. Therefore, I tweaked the text a bit in an attempt to get past the spam filter and tried multiple times. Finally, as a work-around, I posted to bug-coreutils@gnu.org and stopped thereafter, because I got an ack again! I will be more patient next time! Thanks for educating, Anoop
