[lug] cp and rm

Tom Tromey tromey at redhat.com
Wed Aug 1 22:42:27 MDT 2001


>>>>> "David" == David  <dajo at frii.com> writes:

Tom>    This bug is in RH 6.2 (bash 1.14) and RH 7.0 (bash 2.04).
Tom>    I don't think this problem has anything to do with Red Hat per se.

David> FYI, I have this problem in RH 7.1.  As above, I wrote
David> something to the effect that it may not be a RedHat problem in
David> an earlier posting.  However. regardless of whose "fault" it
David> is, you will be "blamed" because you are a distributor.

I suppose that's true.  However, I try not to do that.

Sometimes it is hard to differentiate between a bug in a package, a
bug in the packaging, or a bad interaction between tools.  In this
case, it isn't hard.  This is a longstanding bash bug of an obscure
nature.

David> Also, - sorry, but this may hurt - you will be blamed because
David> RedHat contains other examples of this kind of inconsistency,
David> and worse.

It doesn't hurt.  Red Hat is not me.

I'm not suprised that Red Hat, or any distribution, would be wildly
inconsistent.  That follows from how it is constructed.  Every Linux
distribution is like Frankenstein's monster, bolted together out of
spare parts.  On the other hand, I don't think the existence of an
obscure bug in bash is sufficient to lead to this conclusion.

David> The fact is that there are too many poor quality items, and so
David> we users all find a way around the problems that they generate.
David> If there were just one or two problems then it would be easy
David> and worthwhile to submit bug reports.

I think I understand your point of view.

I personally have higher standards for free software than I do for
proprietary software.  I'm reluctant to work around bugs in free
software, precisely because I know it is fixable.

So, when I find a bug in free software, I make a real attempt to at
least report it.  It might be a trivial bug, and chances are fair that
it won't be addressed.  But I still report it, because for me that act
is an important part of operating in a free software community.

Sometimes it seems to me that the advent of corporations into the free
software arena has obscured this.  That's too bad.

In your case, you said you reported the bug but were blown off by the
bash maintainers.  That is disappointing (though I can easily imagine
how a bash maintainer's eyes would glaze over once he saw "cp -i" in
the report -- it is easily mistaken for a newbie sh question), but it
doesn't indict the whole process of reporting bugs.

David> What are you going to do about this bug now that you know that
David> *something* is wrong?

I sent a bug report to the bash maintainers.
It isn't important enough to me for me to try to fix it.

Tom



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