RE: cp -p

[Philip Rowlands]

On Fri, 16 Mar 2007, Ekanayake, Sumith wrote:

> Let give you the trace and the vers...
>
> address@hidden ~]$ strace cp -p c d
> execve("/bin/cp", ["cp", "-p", "c", "d"], [/* 52 vars */]) = 0
[ snip unnecessary output ]

> lstat64("d", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=0, ...}) = 0

This isn't quite clear from the example given initially, as here file 
"d" already exists. However...

> stat64("d", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=0, ...}) = 0
> stat64("c", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=0, ...}) = 0
> stat64("d", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=0, ...}) = 0
> open("c", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE)         = 3
> fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=0, ...}) = 0
> open("d", O_WRONLY|O_TRUNC|O_LARGEFILE) = 4

"d" is now empty (truncated).

> fstat64(4, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=0, ...}) = 0
> fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=0, ...}) = 0
> read(3, "", 32768)                      = 0
> close(4)                                = 0
> close(3)                                = 0

Nothing to read from "c", so the files are closed.

> utime("d", [2007/03/16-13:59:47, 2007/03/16-13:59:47]) = 0
> getxattr("c", "system.posix_acl_access", 0xbfff96e0, 132) = -1 ENODATA (No data 
> available)
> stat64("c", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=0, ...}) = 0
> setxattr("d", "system.posix_acl_access", 0x9928d80, 28, ) = -1 EINVAL (Invalid 
> argument)

This is where "invalid argument" is coming from. What happens if file 
"d" doesn't exist in the first place?


Cheers,
Phil