Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!math.lsa.umich.edu!rphroy!cfctech!kevin
From: kevin@cfctech.cfc.com (Kevin Darcy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.att
Subject: Re: C compiler bugs on 386 and 3B2
Message-ID: <1990Sep28.021127.23864@cfctech.cfc.com>
Date: 28 Sep 90 02:11:27 GMT
References: <522@mtndew.Tustin.CA.US> <1990Sep21.224449.20599@cfctech.cfc.com> <4087@auspex.auspex.com>
Reply-To: kevin@cfctech.cfc.com (Kevin Darcy)
Organization: Chrysler Financial Corporation, Southfield, MI.
Lines: 27

In article <4087@auspex.auspex.com> guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris) writes:
>>I just tested this myself (3B2/1000 Model 80, 3.2.2), and... ZOWIE!! It's way 
>>beyond unfriendly! It breaks one of the "sacred" rules of Unix - no direct 
>>writes to (block-device, mounted) filesystem directories.
>
>All "ld" has to do to produce that behavior is to unlink any existing
>target file and create a new one; most versions of UNIX allow the
>super-user to unlink directories (yes, I know, SunOS doesn't; however,
>it doesn't disallow making hard links to directories - if it's going to
>disallow removing hard links to them, it should bloody well disallow
>making them in the first place).  It most definitely doesn't have to do
>"direct writes to ...  directories".

(Point well taken about SunOS, btw. I've been bitten by that one.)

Yes, of course you're right. I was unwittingly giving AT&T the benefit of the 
doubt. It's hard to believe that a system utility would go OUT OF ITS WAY to
unlink a directory with files in it...

If this EVER happens to me accidentally, I'm calling it in, though.

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