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ID Category Severity Type Date Submitted Last Update
0000649 [1003.1(2008)/Issue 7] Base Definitions and Headers Objection Error 2013-01-24 15:38 2019-06-10 08:55
Reporter eblake View Status public  
Assigned To ajosey
Priority normal Resolution Accepted  
Status Closed  
Name Eric Blake
Organization Red Hat
User Reference ebb.pathname_resolution2
Section 4.12 Pathname Resolution
Page Number 112
Line Number 3026
Interp Status Approved
Final Accepted Text See Note: 0001453.
Summary 0000649: pathname resolution of symlink to empty string
Description 0000541 clarified what happens for a symlink containing just slashes,
but failed to mention what happens when resolving a symlink containing
the empty string. There are two common implementations: Solaris treats
the symlink as relative (since it did not begin with a slash), and
performs the concatenation of the directory containing the symlink, the
symlink contents, and the remainder of the pathname to be resolved,
which effectively treats the empty symlink the same as if it had been
the string ".". Meanwhile, several BSD flavors claim that since ""
cannot be a valid file name, any attempt to resolve an empty symlink
will fail with ENOENT in the same manner. Both interpretations make
sense, however, both disagree with a strict reading of the current
specification, which says that the contents of the symlink are
concatenated solely with the remainder of the pathname, and then the
resulting string is then inspected to see if it is a relative name, but
if there is any remaining pathname, this would always imply an absolute
path name resulted. That is, 'symlink("", "empty") &&
stat("empty/dev",&st)' would result in the same behavior as
'stat("/dev",&st)'.
Desired Action At line 3026 [XBD 4.12 Pathname Resolution], after:

In all other cases, the system shall prefix the remaining pathname, if
any, with the contents of the symbolic link.

add:

If the contents of the symbolic link is the empty string, then either
errno shall be set to [ENOENT] and an error indication shall be
returned, or the pathname of the directory containing the symbolic link
shall be used in place of the contents of the symbolic link.

[Editor's note - this is the same location as the insertion mentioned
in 0000541; the two additions can be made in either order.]
Tags tc2-2008
Attached Files

- Relationships
related to 0000541Closedajosey 1003.1(2008)/Issue 7 pathname resolution of a symlink containing exactly // 
related to 0000825Closed 1003.1(2013)/Issue7+TC1 Pathname resolution and empty symbolic links 

-  Notes
(0001453)
Don Cragun (manager)
2013-01-24 16:52
edited on: 2013-01-24 16:54

Interpretation response
------------------------
The standard states that in pathname resolution that an empty string in a symbolic link should treat the remainder of the pathname after an empty symlink is interpolated into the pathname should be treated as an absolute pathname, and conforming implementations must conform to this. However, concerns have been raised about this which are being referred to the sponsor.

Rationale:
-------------
No known implementations behave this way and it is not the desired behavior. There are two common practices here and both are allowed by the suggested new wording.

Notes to the Editor (not part of this interpretation):
-------------------------------------------------------
Make the changes suggested in the Desired Action.

(0001515)
ajosey (manager)
2013-03-29 08:04

Interpretation Proposed 29 Mar 2013
(0001581)
ajosey (manager)
2013-05-03 12:20

Interpretation approved 3 May 2013

- Issue History
Date Modified Username Field Change
2013-01-24 15:38 eblake New Issue
2013-01-24 15:38 eblake Status New => Under Review
2013-01-24 15:38 eblake Assigned To => ajosey
2013-01-24 15:38 eblake Name => Eric Blake
2013-01-24 15:38 eblake Organization => Red Hat
2013-01-24 15:38 eblake User Reference => ebb.pathname_resolution2
2013-01-24 15:38 eblake Section => 4.12 Pathname Resolution
2013-01-24 15:38 eblake Page Number => 112
2013-01-24 15:38 eblake Line Number => 3026
2013-01-24 15:38 eblake Interp Status => ---
2013-01-24 15:38 eblake Relationship added related to 0000541
2013-01-24 16:52 Don Cragun Interp Status --- => Pending
2013-01-24 16:52 Don Cragun Note Added: 0001453
2013-01-24 16:52 Don Cragun Status Under Review => Interpretation Required
2013-01-24 16:52 Don Cragun Resolution Open => Accepted
2013-01-24 16:53 Don Cragun Final Accepted Text => See Note: 0001453.
2013-01-24 16:54 Don Cragun Note Edited: 0001453
2013-01-24 16:54 Don Cragun Tag Attached: tc2-2008
2013-03-29 08:04 ajosey Interp Status Pending => Proposed
2013-03-29 08:04 ajosey Note Added: 0001515
2013-05-03 12:20 ajosey Interp Status Proposed => Approved
2013-05-03 12:20 ajosey Note Added: 0001581
2014-02-12 13:15 eblake Relationship added related to 0000825
2019-06-10 08:55 agadmin Status Interpretation Required => Closed


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