Re: master 9dc306b1: Improve reporting of I/O, access errors

[Michael Albinus]

Paul Eggert <address@hidden> writes:

Hi Paul,

>> Tramp trusts on file-attributes returning nil, when a
>> file does not exist or is not accessible for whatever reason. This is
>> true also for local files.
>
> Could you give an example of where Tramp does this? That is, suppose
> there is a serious local-file error (I/O error, ancestor-directory 
> permissions failure, etc.) when one uses Tramp to access a file - when
> would it be wrong for Tramp to signal such an error?

For such signals we have `access-file'. We shouldn't move its
functionality to `file-attributes'.

>> Furthermore, Tramp does not report anything but nil if a remote file is
>> not accessible due to I/O errors. So the promise of this change cannot
>> be kept for all situations.
>
> It would be nicer if serious errors were also signaled for remote
> files, but that's not essential; such a feature can be delayed until a
> later version (if ever).

Tramp signals errors via ´access-file'. Its current implementation is
not perfect, and should be improved, but that's another story.

Best regards, Michael.