ln -s gives wrong error message on Ultrix 4.1
Ian! D. Allen [CGL]
idallen at watcgl.waterloo.edu
Wed Apr 10 05:43:56 AEST 1991
For a nonexistent pathname "xxx" and a directory into which I do not
have permission to write "/", Ultrix issues the wrong error message:
On a MIPS system here:
1% ln -s xxx /
//xxx: Permission denied <- correct
2% touch /tmp/xxx
3% ln -s /tmp/xxx /
//xxx: Permission denied
On a 4.3 BSD system here:
1% ln -s xxx /
//xxx: Permission denied <- correct
2% touch /tmp/xxx
3% ln -s /tmp/xxx /
//xxx: Permission denied
On a SunOS 4.1 system here:
1% ln -s xxx /
ln: //xxx: Permission denied <- correct
2% touch /tmp/xxx
3% ln -s /tmp/xxx /
ln: //xxx: Permission denied
On Ultrix 4.1:
1% ln -s xxx /
xxx: No such file or directory <- What?!
2% touch /tmp/xxx
3% ln -s /tmp/xxx /
//xxx: Permission denied
The "No such file or directory" that Ultrix issues is not correct for #1.
The presence or absence of the link content should not affect the fact
that I don't have permission to make the symbolic link.
Ultrix should say, like everyone else, "Permission denied".
(It should also put the command name "ln:" in the error messages.)
Same problem on Ultrix 3.1 and Ultrix 3.1C. It gets marks for consistency.
--
-IAN! (Ian! D. Allen) idallen at watcgl.uwaterloo.ca idallen at watcgl.waterloo.edu
[129.97.128.64] Computer Graphics Lab/University of Waterloo/Ontario/Canada
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