Re: mv, cp ask anyway though bound to fail

[Jim Meyering]

Dan Jacobson <address@hidden> wrote:
> What is it about these commands that if they know they are going to
> fail, they still ask anyway. Same for emacs' dired-do-copy etc.
> $ whoami
> jidanni
> $ cp file /etc/passwd
> cp: overwrite `/etc/passwd', overriding mode 0644? y
> cp: cannot create regular file `/etc/passwd': Permission denied
> $ mv /etc/motd /etc/passwd
> mv: overwrite `/etc/passwd', overriding mode 0644? y
> mv: cannot move `/etc/motd' to `/etc/passwd': Permission denied

They're not bound to fail.
An "alternate access method" (e.g., an ACL) may allow it to succeed.