GNU bug report logs - #50784
coreutils 9.0 sometimes gets spurious failures in chmod -R

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Daniel Schepler <dschepler <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: coreutils 9.0 sometimes gets spurious failures in chmod -R
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2021 11:21:40 -0700

After I upgraded my system (locally built) to coreutils 9.0, I noticed
that my lightly modified sbuild started getting build failures when it
tries to run "chmod -R g+w /<<BUILDDIR>>" (as root) in the chroot.
I'm not sure exactly what combination of files triggers the error, but
I'm able to reproduce it roughly as follows:

cd /tmp
tar -x -f .../coreutils-9.0.tar.xz
cd coreutils-9.0
mkdir obj-x86_64-linux-gnu
cd obj-x86_64-linux-gnu
../configure --prefix=/usr
make -j8
chmod -R u+w /tmp/coreutils-9.0/obj-x86_64-linux-gnu
echo $?

In the last chmod command, there are no failures reported; and even if
I run it under strace, I see no hints of any failed system calls other
than one in access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) at startup -- and
certainly no failures in the fchmodat() system calls.  Yet the exit
code from the process is 1.

I wasn't seeing any such errors under sbuild using coreutils 8.32.
-- 
Daniel Schepler

Message #8 received at 50784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: Daniel Schepler <dschepler <at> gmail.com>, 50784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#50784: coreutils 9.0 sometimes gets spurious failures in
 chmod -R
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2021 20:29:03 +0100

On 24/09/2021 19:21, Daniel Schepler wrote:
> After I upgraded my system (locally built) to coreutils 9.0, I noticed
> that my lightly modified sbuild started getting build failures when it
> tries to run "chmod -R g+w /<<BUILDDIR>>" (as root) in the chroot.
> I'm not sure exactly what combination of files triggers the error, but
> I'm able to reproduce it roughly as follows:
> 
> cd /tmp
> tar -x -f .../coreutils-9.0.tar.xz
> cd coreutils-9.0
> mkdir obj-x86_64-linux-gnu
> cd obj-x86_64-linux-gnu
> ../configure --prefix=/usr
> make -j8
> chmod -R u+w /tmp/coreutils-9.0/obj-x86_64-linux-gnu
> echo $?
> 
> In the last chmod command, there are no failures reported; and even if
> I run it under strace, I see no hints of any failed system calls other
> than one in access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) at startup -- and
> certainly no failures in the fchmodat() system calls.  Yet the exit
> code from the process is 1.
> 
> I wasn't seeing any such errors under sbuild using coreutils 8.32.

Drats. I think it's determining ignoring symlinks as an error.
Could you try with the following untested diff:

diff --git a/src/chmod.c b/src/chmod.c
index 37b04f500..9ab60898d 100644
--- a/src/chmod.c
+++ b/src/chmod.c
@@ -322,6 +322,9 @@ process_file (FTS *fts, FTSENT *ent)
   if ( ! recurse)
     fts_set (fts, ent, FTS_SKIP);

+  if (ch.status == CH_NOT_APPLIED)  /* For symlinks.  */
+    ch.status = CH_NO_CHANGE_REQUESTED;
+
   return CH_NO_CHANGE_REQUESTED <= ch.status;
 }

Message #11 received at 50784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: Daniel Schepler <dschepler <at> gmail.com>, 50784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#50784: coreutils 9.0 sometimes gets spurious failures in
 chmod -R
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2021 21:02:56 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On 24/09/2021 20:29, Pádraig Brady wrote:
> On 24/09/2021 19:21, Daniel Schepler wrote:
>> After I upgraded my system (locally built) to coreutils 9.0, I noticed
>> that my lightly modified sbuild started getting build failures when it
>> tries to run "chmod -R g+w /<<BUILDDIR>>" (as root) in the chroot.
>> I'm not sure exactly what combination of files triggers the error, but
>> I'm able to reproduce it roughly as follows:
>>
>> cd /tmp
>> tar -x -f .../coreutils-9.0.tar.xz
>> cd coreutils-9.0
>> mkdir obj-x86_64-linux-gnu
>> cd obj-x86_64-linux-gnu
>> ../configure --prefix=/usr
>> make -j8
>> chmod -R u+w /tmp/coreutils-9.0/obj-x86_64-linux-gnu
>> echo $?
>>
>> In the last chmod command, there are no failures reported; and even if
>> I run it under strace, I see no hints of any failed system calls other
>> than one in access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) at startup -- and
>> certainly no failures in the fchmodat() system calls.  Yet the exit
>> code from the process is 1.
>>
>> I wasn't seeing any such errors under sbuild using coreutils 8.32.
> 
> Drats. I think it's determining ignoring symlinks as an error.
> Could you try with the following untested diff:
> 
> diff --git a/src/chmod.c b/src/chmod.c
> index 37b04f500..9ab60898d 100644
> --- a/src/chmod.c
> +++ b/src/chmod.c
> @@ -322,6 +322,9 @@ process_file (FTS *fts, FTSENT *ent)
>      if ( ! recurse)
>        fts_set (fts, ent, FTS_SKIP);
> 
> +  if (ch.status == CH_NOT_APPLIED)  /* For symlinks.  */
> +    ch.status = CH_NO_CHANGE_REQUESTED;
> +
>      return CH_NO_CHANGE_REQUESTED <= ch.status;
>    }

Tested equivalent patch is attached.

[chmod-fix-symlink-exit.patch (text/x-patch, attachment)]

Message #14 received at 50784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Daniel Schepler <dschepler <at> gmail.com>
To: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigbrady.com>
Cc: 50784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#50784: coreutils 9.0 sometimes gets spurious failures in
 chmod -R
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2021 14:42:51 -0700

On Fri, Sep 24, 2021 at 1:02 PM Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigbrady.com> wrote:
> > Could you try with the following untested diff:
>
> Tested equivalent patch is attached.

Yes, with chmod-fix-symlink-exit.patch applied and the resulting
packages installed for testing, the issue does appear to be resolved.
-- 
Daniel Schepler

Message #17 received at 50784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Bernhard Voelker <mail <at> bernhard-voelker.de>
To: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>,
 Daniel Schepler <dschepler <at> gmail.com>, 50784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#50784: coreutils 9.0 sometimes gets spurious failures in
 chmod -R
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2021 00:37:31 +0200

On 9/24/21 22:02, Pádraig Brady wrote:
> Tested equivalent patch is attached.

Nice small patch.
Maybe it's worth documenting in the enum where the "bad range" starts against which the
code later tests?
Furthermore, I think it's worth adding a NEWS entry and mentioning that this bug has been
introduced in v9.0, namely in v8.32-193-gbbb19b186.

Thanks & have a nice day,
Berny

Message #22 received at 50784-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: Daniel Schepler <dschepler <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 50784-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#50784: coreutils 9.0 sometimes gets spurious failures in
 chmod -R
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2021 23:48:43 +0100

On 24/09/2021 22:42, Daniel Schepler wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 24, 2021 at 1:02 PM Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigbrady.com> wrote:
>>> Could you try with the following untested diff:
>>
>> Tested equivalent patch is attached.
> 
> Yes, with chmod-fix-symlink-exit.patch applied and the resulting
> packages installed for testing, the issue does appear to be resolved.

Thanks for testing.
Pushed (with NEWS update).
marking this as done.

thanks,
Pádraig

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