[issue38868] Shutil cannot delete a folder that contains an .ini file

[Svetlana Vodianova]

Svetlana Vodianova  added the comment:

I think eryksun is correct.

I agree. The code sample provided by him, and the Python docs, mean I'm able to 
remove a folder with a .ini file without getting WinError 5.

I should mark this as closed as he solved my problem.

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status: open -> closed

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[issue38868] Shutil cannot delete a folder that contains an .ini file

[Bruno P. Kinoshita]

Bruno P. Kinoshita  added the comment:

I think eryksun is correct. Reproduced it locally. Setting to read-only 
initially did not raise the issue, but then as administrator I removed the 
inherited permissions and set it to read-only for my user, then it raised the 
exact same WinError 5 Permission Error.

With the extra code to remove the readonly attribute, the directory was 
successfully deleted.

>It does so as an accident of history, not because it's justified

I think it would be easier for users if this attribute was not copied, 
especially as it looks like other attributes are not being copied (on Win). 
That would remove the need of this extra code when using Windows.

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[issue38868] Shutil cannot delete a folder that contains an .ini file

[Eryk Sun]

Eryk Sun  added the comment:

The directory probably has the "readonly" attribute set. The documentation 
includes a basic remove_readonly error handler for rmtree [1]:

import os, stat
import shutil

def remove_readonly(func, path, _):
"Clear the readonly bit and reattempt the removal"
os.chmod(path, stat.S_IWRITE)
func(path)

shutil.rmtree(directory, onerror=remove_readonly)

That the readonly attribute prevents unlinking a directory is not particularly 
useful because a directory has to be empty anyway in order to unlink it. This 
is in contrast to the "immutable" file attribute in Linux, which prevents any 
modification of a directory, such as linking or unlinking files in it. Windows 
inherits its comparatively simplistic behavior for readonly directories from 
MS-DOS.

Since setting a directory as readonly is practically useless, the Windows shell 
reuses this attribute to indicate a customized folder [2]. If a directory is 
flagged readonly, the shell checks for and reads a "desktop.ini" file in it 
that can set a custom name, icon, tooltip, etc. Given you're copying a folder 
that contains a desktop.ini file, it's very likely that the readonly attribute 
is set. 

shutil.copytree will copy the readonly attribute to the destination directory 
via os.chmod. This is the only file attribute that gets copied (e.g. hidden and 
system aren't handled), due to a hack in the Windows CRT that conflates the 
readonly file attribute as a write 'permission' for chmod() and stat(). (Being 
readonly is an attribute of the file or directory, not a granted permission. 
os.access is the correct function to take both attributes and permissions into 
account, not os.stat.) Python inherits the CRT behavior in its own 
implementation of os.chmod and os.stat in Windows. It does so as an accident of 
history, not because it's justified.

[1] https://docs.python.org/3/library/shutil.html#rmtree-example
[2] 
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/shell/how-to-customize-folders-with-desktop-ini

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[issue38868] Shutil cannot delete a folder that contains an .ini file

[Svetlana Vodianova]

Svetlana Vodianova  added the comment:

What is the system error code (winerror) of the PermissionError?

PermissionError: [WinError 5] Access is denied


Note: Please ignore my first post (msg357097) describing the problem, I made a 
few mistakes that might be confusing. msg357099 better describes my problem.

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[issue38868] Shutil cannot delete a folder that contains an .ini file

[Eryk Sun]

Eryk Sun  added the comment:

What is the system error code (winerror) of the PermissionError?

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nosy: +eryksun

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[issue38868] Shutil cannot delete a folder that contains an .ini file

[Svetlana Vodianova]

Svetlana Vodianova  added the comment:

I posted my problem on Stack Overflow, but as of right now haven't received any 
answers. 

Link: 
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/58922332/shutil-cannot-delete-a-folder-with-a-hidden-desktop-ini-file

To summarize my problem: If you use copytree to copy a source folder that 
contains a desktop.ini file to a destination, and then call rmtree() to remove 
the destination folder (for example after zipping, you may want to remove the 
uncompressed destination folder), it will throw an error indicating it doesn't 
have permission to remove the folder. Using ignore_patterns() doesn't help 
either, or to quote my problem on SO:

It seems once the source contains a .ini file, even if it isn't copied to the 
destination, rmtree() will have a problem removing the destination folder.

Powershell has almost the same issue, however, unlike Python, if you tell PS to 
ignore the .ini file, it will remove the folder without crashing.

rmtree has no problem removing folders containing 0 ini files.

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[issue38868] Shutil cannot delete a folder that contains an .ini file

[Svetlana Vodianova]

New submission from Svetlana Vodianova :

I posted my problem on Stack Overflow, but as of right now haven't received any 
answers. 

Link: 
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/58922332/shutil-cannot-delete-a-folder-with-a-hidden-desktop-ini-file

To summarize my problem: If you use copytree to copy a source folder that 
contains a desktop.ini file to a destination, and then call rmtree() to remove 
the source folder, it will throw an error indicating it doesn't have permission 
to remove the folder. Using ignore_patterns() doesn't help either, or to quote 
my problem on SO:

It seems once the source contains a .ini file, even if it isn't copied to the 
destination, rmtree() will have a problem removing the source folder.

Powershell has almost the same issue, however, unlike Python, if you tell PS to 
ignore the .ini file, it will remove the folder without crashing.

rmtree has no problem removing folders containing 0 ini files.

--
components: IO, Windows
messages: 357097
nosy: QueenSvetlana, paul.moore, steve.dower, tim.golden, zach.ware
priority: normal
severity: normal
status: open
title: Shutil cannot delete a folder that contains an .ini file
type: crash
versions: Python 3.8

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