On Mon, Aug 25, 2003 at 05:22:39PM +1000, Martin Pool wrote:
> On Sun, 24 Aug 2003 16:44:15 +0200
> clemens fischer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > rsync version 2.5.6 protocol version 26 on FreeBSD 4.8-STABLE i386
> > "promotes" character special files to regular files:
> >
> > --8<---cut here:--start--->8--
> > # ll /dev/stdout
> > 8282 crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel - 22, 1 Aug 23 17:30 /dev/stdout
> >
> > # rsync localhost::rsync/readme /dev/stdout
> > $Id: readme,v 1.2 2003/08/05 02:38:25 root Exp root $
> > ...
> >
> > # ll /dev/stdout
> > 7527 -rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel - 136 Aug 24 11:49 /dev/stdout
> >
> > # ./MAKEDEV std
> >
> > # ll /dev/stdout
> > 7527 crw-rw-rw- 1 root wheel - 22, 1 Aug 24 11:49 /dev/stdout
> > --8<---cut here:---end---->8--
> >
> > i know that this (displaying a text file on the console) is not what
> > rsync is meant to do, but since it didn't give any messages or exit-
> > codes, i didn't think of checking /dev/stdout. since then i chased a
> > phantom bug in freebsds update procedure for two weeks, never
> > suspecting an rsync bug.
>
> It is not "used on" special files. rsync replaces the destination with
> the source.
>
> It is just the same behaviour as mv. It is not like 'cat >dest'.
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]:/tmp# mknod pts5 c 136 5
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]:/tmp# date>hello
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]:/tmp# ls -l hello pts5
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 29 Aug 25 17:20 hello
> crw-r--r-- 1 root root 136, 5 Aug 25 17:20 pts5
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]:/tmp# mv hello pts5
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]:/tmp# ls -l hello pts5
> ls: hello: No such file or directory
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 29 Aug 25 17:20 pts5
>
> I can see how it would be confusing, but it is not a bug.
>
> > rsync should error exit or message the user when used on special
> > files!
>
> No, I don't think so. At the most I could stretch to giving a warning
> when replacing a special file, but even then I'm not sure. Unix is
> "you asked for it, you got it."
No warning is called for. In fact is contraindicated by the
fact that rsync is expected to cope with device files so
replacing device files is well within its expected function.
--
________________________________________________________________
J.W. Schultz Pegasystems Technologies
email address: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Remember Cernan and Schmitt
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