From owner-freebsd-doc Thu Mar 28 18:30:12 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-doc@hub.freebsd.org Received: from freefall.freebsd.org (freefall.FreeBSD.org [216.136.204.21]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7581F37B404 for ; Thu, 28 Mar 2002 18:30:01 -0800 (PST) Received: (from gnats@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.11.6/8.11.6) id g2T2U1770803; Thu, 28 Mar 2002 18:30:01 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from gnats) Received: from lists.blarg.net (lists.blarg.net [206.124.128.17]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 264E037B41B for ; Thu, 28 Mar 2002 18:26:26 -0800 (PST) Received: from thig.blarg.net (thig.blarg.net [206.124.128.18]) by lists.blarg.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id D1E3BBD86 for ; Thu, 28 Mar 2002 18:26:25 -0800 (PST) Received: from localhost.localdomain ([206.124.139.115]) by thig.blarg.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA29788 for ; Thu, 28 Mar 2002 18:26:25 -0800 Received: (from jojo@localhost) by localhost.localdomain (8.11.6/8.11.3) id g2T2Oxh97227; Thu, 28 Mar 2002 18:24:59 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from swear@blarg.net) Message-Id: Date: 28 Mar 2002 18:24:58 -0800 From: "Gary W. Swearingen" Reply-To: swear@blarg.net To: FreeBSD-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org Subject: docs/36449: symlink(7) manual doesn't mention trailing slash, etc. Sender: owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org >Number: 36449 >Category: docs >Synopsis: symlink(7) manual doesn't mention trailing slash, etc. >Confidential: no >Severity: non-critical >Priority: low >Responsible: freebsd-doc >State: open >Quarter: >Keywords: >Date-Required: >Class: doc-bug >Submitter-Id: current-users >Arrival-Date: Thu Mar 28 18:30:01 PST 2002 >Closed-Date: >Last-Modified: >Originator: Gary W. Swearingen >Release: FreeBSD 4.5-STABLE i386 >Organization: none >Environment: n/a ================ >Description: The symlink(7) manual doesn't mention how many/most/all commands handle symbolic link arguments which have trailing slashes. And the "Commands not traversing ..." section omits rule-violators "chown/chmod/chgrp" which also do not follow symlinks without a trailing slash. (Note that some commands, like "cat" (and presumably all others) do follow symlinks without a trailing slash.) ================ >How-To-Repeat: n/a ================ >Fix: This probably requires long study and research to confidently fix this manual. Probably an interim fix should just add something about the three other rule-violators and a warning (in it's own section or near the beginning of the description section) something like this: The handling of symbolic links cannot easily be described for all cases, but in most cases, referring to a symbolic link by using its name followed immediately by one or more slashes ("/") will cause the system to treat it as the name of the thing the symbolic link refers to. This "following of the link" goes no further if the thing referred to is also a symbolic link. Note that when other parts of this file refer to "symbolic links named as command arguments", they only refer to such links which do not have trailing slashes. If nothing else can be done soon, the manual should say: This manual is untrustworthy, especially regarding symbolic links named with trailing slashes which can cause suprising behavior. >Release-Note: >Audit-Trail: >Unformatted: To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message