coreutils rm fix for Solaris -- please review this one....

[Paul Eggert]

CVS coreutils rm failed "make check" due to the following scenario
in tests/rm/inaccessible:

   can't get the working directory initially;
   ...
   chdir ("/foo/bar/abs1");
   ... opendir, readdir, remove all entries here; then: ...
   chdir ("."); // because we couldn't get the working directory initially
   rmdir ("/foo/bar/abs1");
   ...

Solaris doesn't let you remove the working directory, so rmdir fails.

The fix is to replace that chdir (".") with a chdir ("/"), so I
installed the following patch.  However, I'd like other pairs of eyes
to verify this one, as I'm a bit leery of executing chdir ("/") in a
program that is removing everything in sight!

I thought of using chdir ("..") instead but worried it might fail too,
e.g., if two rm processes are running simultaneously -- perhaps I was
worrying too much?

2004-07-28  Paul Eggert  <address@hidden>

        * src/remove.c (remove_dir): If we can't save the state of the
        working directory, pretend we started from "/", not ".".
        This avoids a bug on hosts like Solaris that don't let you
        remove the working directory.

Index: src/remove.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /home/eggert/coreutils/cu/src/remove.c,v
retrieving revision 1.113
retrieving revision 1.114
diff -p -u -r1.113 -r1.114
--- src/remove.c        20 Jun 2004 13:44:12 -0000      1.113
+++ src/remove.c        28 Jul 2004 14:50:06 -0000      1.114
@@ -1008,9 +1008,12 @@ remove_dir (Dirstack_state *ds, char con
          (*cwd_state)->saved_errno = errno;
          assert (errno != 0);
 
-         /* Pretend we started from ".".  That is fine as long as there
-            is no requirement to return to the original working directory.  */
-         (*cwd_state)->saved_cwd.name = xstrdup (".");
+         /* Pretend we started from "/".  That is fine as long as there
+            is no requirement to return to the original working directory.
+            Use "/", not ".", so that we chdir out of a non-root target
+            directory before attempting to remove it: some hosts don't let
+            you remove a working directory.  */
+         (*cwd_state)->saved_cwd.name = xstrdup ("/");
        }
       else
        (*cwd_state)->saved_errno = 0;