Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 08:54:20 +0100 (CET) From: Andre Albsmeier <Andre.Albsmeier@mchp.siemens.de> To: dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Why is "chown -h -R" forbidden? Message-ID: <199710270754.IAA00631@curry.mchp.siemens.de> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.971026234216.12269V-100000@gdi.uoregon.edu> from Doug White at "Oct 26, 97 11:42:44 pm"
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> On Tue, 21 Oct 1997, Andre Albsmeier wrote:
>
> > When trying to run
> >
> > chown -h -R user.group file ...
> >
> > I get the message
> >
> > chown: the -R and -h options may not be specified together
> >
> > Why is this so? I want to pass a whole file hierarchy over
> > to a user; including the symlinks (not what they point at).
>
> -R and -h are mutually exclusive. See chown(8); try the -H option.
And I don't understand why. I assume that -P is the default (at least
it is for find(1)). So, when descending down the hierarchy, IMHO it would
make sense to allow -R and -h. This is what I wrote a few days ago to
-hackers, however, I didn't get any reply until now...
----------------- snip ------------------------------
Hi,
after asking on -questions why "chown -R -h" isn't
allowed, I was told that this is due to the possibility
that there might be symlinks which point to directories
somewhere else.
However, this might really be a problem, but only if
the symlinks are followed. So if neither -L nor -H
are specified, I think it would be safe to allow -h
with -R.
The diff's are quite simple:
*** chown.c.ORI Wed Oct 22 11:35:40 1997
--- chown.c Tue Oct 21 20:23:30 1997
***************
*** 116,122 ****
fts_options = FTS_PHYSICAL;
if (Rflag) {
! if (hflag)
errx(1, "the -R and -h options may not be specified together");
if (Hflag)
fts_options |= FTS_COMFOLLOW;
--- 116,122 ----
fts_options = FTS_PHYSICAL;
if (Rflag) {
! if (hflag && (Lflag || Hflag) )
errx(1, "the -R and -h options may not be specified together");
if (Hflag)
fts_options |= FTS_COMFOLLOW;
I have tried it here and it works quite nice. The reason,
why I like it is, to pass a whole directory over to another
user; of course without the files the symlinks are pointing at.
What do you think about that?
-Andre
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