[debbugs-tracker] bug#23263: closed (cat: missingfile: No such file or directory)

[GNU bug Tracking System]

Your message dated Sun, 10 Apr 2016 12:01:09 -0700
with message-id <address@hidden>
and subject line Re: bug#23263: cat: missingfile: No such file or directory
has caused the debbugs.gnu.org bug report #23263,
regarding cat: missingfile: No such file or directory
to be marked as done.

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-- 
23263: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=23263
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> --- Begin Message ---
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> Subject: 
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> cat: missingfile: No such file or directory
>
>
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> Date: 
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> Sun, 10 Apr 2016 19:43:32 +0100
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> User-agent: 
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> Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.6.0
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>
>
>
> Hello
>
> I noticed that cat doesn't have an accurate message in the following 
> use-case:
>
> $ cat missingfile
> cat: missingfile: No such file or directory
> $ mkdir testdir
> $ cat testdir
> cat: testdir: Is a directory
>
> I wrote up the details of the ENOENT problem here:
> http://technoramauk.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/enoent-considered-harmful.html
>
> Please keep my email address in any replies as I am not on this mailing 
> list.
>
> Cheers, Jonny
>
>
>
> --- End Message ---
> --- Begin Message ---
>
>
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> Subject: 
>
> Re: bug#23263: cat: missingfile: No such file or directory
>
>
>
>
> Date: 
>
> Sun, 10 Apr 2016 12:01:09 -0700
>
>
>
>
> User-agent: 
>
> Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.6.0
>
>
>
>
> Jonny Grant wrote:
> > Hello
> >
> > I noticed that cat doesn't have an accurate message in the following use-case:
> >
> > $ cat missingfile
> > cat: missingfile: No such file or directory
> > $ mkdir testdir
> > $ cat testdir
> > cat: testdir: Is a directory
>
> The "No such file or directory" message occurs because the operating system does 
> not have a separate error code for missing directory versus missing file. In the 
> example you gave, perhaps the working directory is missing (this can happen on 
> some systems), or perhaps there is no file named "missingfile" in the working 
> directory; the same code is returned for both situations.
>
> This is not a coreutils issue, but is instead a kernel and C library issue. It's 
> not something that coreutils can "fix", even assuming it was agreed that it was 
> a bug. If it really bothers you, I suggest writing the POSIX standardization 
> committee, but I should warn you that you'll need a strong argument to change 
> something that has been standardized for decades.
>
>
> --- End Message ---