[Reposting this because I originally posted it during the fileutils --> coreutils transition.]
I've looked through the list archives, and I apologize if I missed a post discussing this. I'm not sure whether this behaviour is a feature or a bug. I'm not a programmer, so unfortunately can't check the source in a meaningful way. Would anyone here know if this behaviour is normal/intended? Here's what happens on two systems, with slightly different fileutils versions. Note how -R behaves differently depending on if I apply the chown to a directory or to a symlink to a directory. cwood@titanium:/tmp$ uname -a Linux titanium 2.2.14-5.0smp #1 SMP Tue Mar 7 21:01:40 EST 2000 i686 unknown cwood@titanium:/tmp$ chown --version chown (GNU fileutils) 4.0p Written by David MacKenzie.z Copyright (C) 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. cwood@titanium:/tmp$ mkdir zdir cwood@titanium:/tmp$ touch zdir/file cwood@titanium:/tmp$ ln -s zdir zln cwood@titanium:/tmp$ ls -l total 2 drwxrwxr-x 2 cwood develop 4096 Aug 9 15:17 zdir/ lrwxrwxrwx 1 cwood develop 4 Aug 9 15:18 zln -> zdir/ cwood@titanium:/tmp$ su Password: [root@titanium /tmp]# chown -R -v root zdir owner of zdir changed to root owner of zdir/file changed to root [root@titanium /tmp]# chown -R -v cwood zdir owner of zdir changed to cwood owner of zdir/file changed to cwood [root@titanium /tmp]# chown -R -v root zln owner of zln changed to root [root@titanium /tmp]# chown -R -v cwood zln owner of zln changed to cwood [root@titanium /tmp]# chown -R -v --dereference root zln owner of zln changed to root [root@titanium /tmp]# ls -l total 2 drwxrwxr-x 2 root develop 4096 Aug 9 15:17 zdir lrwxrwxrwx 1 cwood develop 4 Aug 9 15:18 zln -> zdir [root@titanium /tmp]# ls -l zdir total 0 -rw-rw-r-- 1 cwood develop 0 Aug 9 15:17 file [root@titanium /tmp]# cwood@playdium:/tmp$ uname -a Linux playdium 2.4.18 #4 SMP Wed Apr 24 18:38:23 EDT 2002 i686 unknown unknown GNU/Linux cwood@playdium:/tmp$ chown --version chown (fileutils) 4.1.10 Written by David MacKenzie. Copyright (C) 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. cwood@playdium:/tmp$ mkdir zdir cwood@playdium:/tmp$ touch zdir/file cwood@playdium:/tmp$ ln -s zdir zln cwood@playdium:/tmp$ ls -l total 2 drwxrwxr-x 2 cwood develop 4096 Aug 9 15:24 zdir/ lrwxrwxrwx 1 cwood develop 4 Aug 9 15:24 zln -> zdir/ cwood@playdium:/tmp$ su Password: playdium:/tmp# chown -R -v root zdir changed ownership of `zdir' to root changed ownership of `zdir/file' to root playdium:/tmp# chown -R -v cwood zdir changed ownership of `zdir' to cwood changed ownership of `zdir/file' to cwood playdium:/tmp# chown -R -v root zln changed ownership of `zln' to root playdium:/tmp# ls -l total 2 drwxrwxr-x 2 cwood develop 4096 Aug 9 15:24 zdir lrwxrwxrwx 1 root develop 4 Aug 9 15:24 zln -> zdir playdium:/tmp# chown -R -v cwood zln changed ownership of `zln' to cwood playdium:/tmp# chown -R -v --dereference root zln changed ownership of `zln' to root playdium:/tmp# ls -l total 2 drwxrwxr-x 2 root develop 4096 Aug 9 15:24 zdir lrwxrwxrwx 1 cwood develop 4 Aug 9 15:24 zln -> zdir playdium:/tmp# ls -l zdir total 0 -rw-rw-r-- 1 cwood develop 0 Aug 9 15:24 file playdium:/tmp# _______________________________________________ Bug-fileutils mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-fileutils
