Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:53:37 GMT From: Justin Mitchell <freebsd.20.skel@spamgourmet.org> To: freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org Subject: bin/116477: rm behaves unexpectedly when using -r and relative paths Message-ID: <200709192153.l8JLrbXo040792@www.freebsd.org> Resent-Message-ID: <200709192200.l8JM06Bt064472@freefall.freebsd.org>
next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
>Number: 116477 >Category: bin >Synopsis: rm behaves unexpectedly when using -r and relative paths >Confidential: no >Severity: serious >Priority: medium >Responsible: freebsd-bugs >State: open >Quarter: >Keywords: >Date-Required: >Class: sw-bug >Submitter-Id: current-users >Arrival-Date: Wed Sep 19 22:00:05 GMT 2007 >Closed-Date: >Last-Modified: >Originator: Justin Mitchell >Release: Mac OS X 10.4 >Organization: >Environment: Darwin justin-mitchells-mac-mini.local 8.10.0 Darwin Kernel Version 8.10.0: Wed May 23 16:50:59 PDT 2007; root:xnu-792.21.3~1/RELEASE_PPC Power Macintosh powerpc >Description: This is a bug with the 'rm' commandline utility that can cause data loss. When using 'rm -r' with relative paths and a trailing slash rm can delete the wrong item, or no item at all. Here is an example of rm deleting the wrong file. mac:~ $ mkdir tmp mac:~ $ cd tmp mac:~/tmp $ mkdir test mac:~/tmp $ ln -s test test2 mac:~/tmp $ ls -l total 8 drwxr-xr-x 2 justin justin 68 Aug 10 01:41 test lrwxr-xr-x 1 justin justin 4 Aug 10 01:42 test2 -> test mac:~/tmp $ cd .. mac:~ $ rm -r tmp/test2/ mac:~ $ ls -l tmp total 8 lrwxr-xr-x 1 justin justin 4 Aug 10 01:42 test2 -> test Note that if you do you not use the trailing slash in 'rm -f tmp/ test2/' that it will behave normally. It will also behave normally if you do not 'cd' to another directory. I confirmed this with another individual running OS X, but I do not know the version. For comparison, I tested this with an older version of Redhat, and it worked fine. I submitted this bug report to Apple, but they said "This is how FreeBSD operates and rm is based on their sources." >How-To-Repeat: mac:~ $ mkdir tmp mac:~ $ cd tmp mac:~/tmp $ mkdir test mac:~/tmp $ ln -s test test2 mac:~/tmp $ ls -l total 8 drwxr-xr-x 2 justin justin 68 Aug 10 01:41 test lrwxr-xr-x 1 justin justin 4 Aug 10 01:42 test2 -> test mac:~/tmp $ cd .. mac:~ $ rm -r tmp/test2/ mac:~ $ ls -l tmp total 8 lrwxr-xr-x 1 justin justin 4 Aug 10 01:42 test2 -> test >Fix: >Release-Note: >Audit-Trail: >Unformatted:
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?200709192153.l8JLrbXo040792>