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From: rhall@convex.com (Randy Hall)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: perl -i bug
Message-ID: <111455@convex.convex.com>
Date: 15 Dec 90 23:06:42 GMT
Sender: news@convex.com
Reply-To: rhall@convex.com (Randy Hall)
Organization: Convex Computer Corp, Richardson, TX
Lines: 20

I ran into this problem using perl (patch level 40).

Using perl -i to edit a file in place fails when the directory is not
writable.  The file is zeroed, and no warning is given.

Create FILE which has write permission.  Put it in a directory which does
not have write permission.  Try:  perl -p -i.bak -e "s/foo/bar/" FILE

I think this is what happens:  perl will try to rename FILE to FILE.bak,
but cannot because write permission is denied.  Then perl tries to read
from FILE.bak putting the output in FILE.  This results in zeroing FILE.

I think perl should quit after not being able to make the backup and print
an error message.  If no backup is requested, perhaps perl could use /tmp
when the current directory isn't writable.

Thanks,
Randy Hall

rhall@convex.com	Convex Computer Corporation	Richardson, TX