X-Recipient: archive-cygwin AT delorie DOT com
X-Spam-Check-By: sourceware.org
Message-ID: <47684A22.8070104@tlinx.org>
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:30:58 -0800
From: Linda Walsh <cygwin AT tlinx DOT org>
User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.13 (Windows/20070809)
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: File name too long problem -- maybe fix coming?
References: <200712012043 DOT lB1KhE0C008215 AT dell2 DOT home> <20071202123510 DOT GJ30894 AT calimero DOT vinschen DOT de>
In-Reply-To: <20071202123510.GJ30894@calimero.vinschen.de>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-IsSubscribed: yes
Mailing-List: contact cygwin-help AT cygwin DOT com; run by ezmlm
List-Id: <cygwin.cygwin.com>
List-Subscribe: <mailto:cygwin-subscribe AT cygwin DOT com>
List-Archive: <http://sourceware.org/ml/cygwin/>
List-Post: <mailto:cygwin AT cygwin DOT com>
List-Help: <mailto:cygwin-help AT cygwin DOT com>, <http://sourceware.org/ml/#faqs>
Sender: cygwin-owner AT cygwin DOT com
Mail-Followup-To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Delivered-To: mailing list cygwin AT cygwin DOT com

Is it possible the update quoted at the bottom will address or fix
the path-len problem, mentioned below, in cygwin?

Corinna Vinschen wrote:
> On Dec  1 15:43, Marty Leisner wrote:
>> So for now I did a mount onto a shorter path and things worked fine:
>> C:\Documents and Settings\leisner on /mnt type system (binmode)
>> when I queried in  /mnt...
>>
>> Whats the current status of this problem?  
> 
> Work in progress.
> 
> Corinna
-------


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [PATCH]cp --recursive fails unnecessarily when the names of the latter approach become very long
Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:31:07 +0100
From: Jim Meyering <jim(at)meyering.net>
To: Cai Xianchao <caixianchao(at)cn.fujitsu.com>
CC: bug-coreutils(at)gnu.org
References: <47564085.4010907(at)cn.fujitsu.com>

Cai Xianchao <caixianchao(at)cn.fujitsu.com> wrote:
> The file TODO described a bug of cp (package:coreutils-6.9):
> "cp --recursive: perform dir traversals in source and dest hierarchy
> rather than forming full file names. The latter (current) approach
> fails unnecessarily when the names become very long."
>
> We find that if the length of file name is not shorter than PATH_MAX,
> it will fail.
>
> Now, we have solved the problem by using the *at functions which were
> added to linux in kernel 2.6.16. If the kernel is older than 2.6.16,
> cp will run the same as before.

Thank you very much for working on that problem!
I wish you had announced your plan earlier -- I could
have saved you some time.

There are approximately 20 places in your patch where
code like this has been added:

         fchdir (dst_relative_fd);
         ret_abandon_move = abandon_move (x, dst_relative_path, &dst_sb);
         fchdir (currentpath_fd);

True, that does achieve the goal of allowing longer names,
but at the expense of changing the current directory.
copy.c must not change the process's working directory,
first because it is intended to be library-like, but also
because ping-ponging back and forth via fchdir is unnecessary
and hurts performance.  Of course, on systems that lack native
openat, copy still calls *at functions, but they go through
gnulib's portability layer, which may call fchdir/chdir.  But
that's ok, because it affects only older and less-functional systems.

Instead, you should use fts to perform the source-tree traversal.
That handles most of the tricky details for you -- on the source side.
However, in order to traverse the destination tree, you will have to
maintain a single primary file descriptor, initially open on the parent of
the destination directory -- or maybe on the destination directory itself.
Then, as you create each new subdirectory (via mkdirat), you would advance
that primary descriptor to a new one open on the just-created directory.

Also, there is no need for #if directives like this:

     #if defined  __USE_ATFILE && defined PATH_MAX

For examples of some of the things you will have to do with fts,
see du.c, and ch*.c.

Note also that with a file-descriptor-based traversal, it is no
longer necessary to form full, relative file names while performing
a traversal (except for diagnostics).  And in fact, if you are not
careful in how/when you form full names, you can mistakenly end up
making the code inefficient (O(Depth^2)) for a deep hierarchy.
For an example of how to do that, see the obstacks in remove.c's
"struct dirstack_state".

If you pursue this, the FSF will need a copyright assignment from the
author(s) of the work, and I see none on file yet.  Have you already
completed/mailed the necessary forms?  If not, let me know and I'll
send them.
_______________________________________________
Bug-coreutils mailing list
Bug-coreutils(at)gnu.org
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-coreutils

--
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/