Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 17:10:03 -0800 (PST) From: System Administrator <root@asarian-host.net> To: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: docs/46415: Proposed change in man-page wording for "chown" Message-ID: <200212220110.gBM1A3cv007721@freefall.freebsd.org>
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The following reply was made to PR docs/46415; it has been noted by GNATS.
From: System Administrator <root@asarian-host.net>
To: "Gary W. Swearingen" <swear@attbi.com>
Cc: <FreeBSD-gnats-submit@freebsd.org>
Subject: Re: docs/46415: Proposed change in man-page wording for "chown"
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 02:00:09 +0100
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary W. Swearingen" <swear@attbi.com>
To: <root@asarian-host.net>
Cc: <FreeBSD-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 21, 2002 8:19 PM
Subject: Re: docs/46415: Proposed change in man-page wording for "chown"
> System Administrator <root@asarian-host.net> writes:
>
> > Therefore, I believe that perhaps a more legible wording may be in
> > order:
> >
> > -R If file designates a directory, chown changes the ownership of
> > the directory and the entire subtree connected at that point.
>
> 1) That leaves one guessing what happens if "file" isn't a directory.
True.
> While "Entire subtree" provides a strong clue as to
> meaning that just "subtree" doesn't, they can be seen as equivalent in
> a strict reading.
I paraphrased the wording of "cp" (because "cp -R .*" acts similarly), which
reads:
-R If source_file designates a directory, cp copies the directory and
the entire subtree connected at that point.
> It could be more clear about being recursive. Maybe:
>
> -R Change the user ID and/or the group ID of the directory entries
> specified by the "file" arguments and, recursively, the contents
> of any directory subtrees named by those directory entries.
Much better. :)
> "Caveat" is unnecessarily esoteric. How about:
>
> Beware that ".*" is expanded by some shells to include "..".
Excellent. :) Very clear.
> Another issue is the placement of the warning. An unexpected ".." could
> cause great harm with or without "-R". The warning seems to belong at
> the end of the DESCRIPTION section as a separate paragraph, but it's
> far more useful in reducing the occurances of disasters if it's in the
> description of "-R". It's short enough to put in both places.
I would love a little warning; yesterday a user on the FreeBSD mailing list
hosed his entire system doing:
"chown -R /data/.*"
And I can see how that might be upsetting. :)
Although I understand the man pages are not meant to take the place of a
UNIX tutorial, in cases like this, a friendly hint or two may prevent a lot
of disasters.
Well, thanks for replying anyway. :)
- Mark
System Administrator Asarian-host.org
---
"If you were supposed to understand it,
we wouldn't call it code." - FedEx
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