[Caml-list] Unix file permissions bug?

[Caml-list] Unix file permissions bug?

[Matt Gushee]

Hello, everyone--

I am trying to work with some functions in the Unix module that involve
file permissions, and getting some very surprising results:

  bash-2.05a$ cd /var/tmp
  bash-2.05a$ touch test1 test2 test3
  bash-2.05a$ ocaml unix.cma
          Objective Caml version 3.06
  
  # Unix.chmod "test1" 755;;
  - : unit = ()
  # Unix.chmod "test2" 644;;
  - : unit = ()
  # Unix.chmod "test3" 400;;
  - : unit = ()
  # 
  bash-2.05a$ ls -l test?
  --wxrw--wt    1 matt     users           0 Jun  8 14:52 test1
  --w----r-T    1 matt     users           0 Jun  8 14:52 test2
  -rw--w----    1 matt     users           0 Jun  8 14:52 test3

I am running OCaml 3.06 on Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 (glibc 2.2.5). I built
OCaml from source, but I get the same results on two machines with
similar but not identical systems. Does anyone know why this is
happening?

-- 
Matt Gushee                 When a nation follows the Way,
Englewood, Colorado, USA    Horses bear manure through
mgushee@havenrock.com           its fields;
http://www.havenrock.com/   When a nation ignores the Way,
                            Horses bear soldiers through
                                its streets.
                                
                            --Lao Tzu (Peter Merel, trans.)

-------------------
To unsubscribe, mail caml-list-request@inria.fr Archives: http://caml.inria.fr
Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs FAQ: http://caml.inria.fr/FAQ/
Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners

Re: [Caml-list] Unix file permissions bug?

[Nicolas George]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 224 bytes --]

Le decadi 20 prairial, an CCXI, Matt Gushee a écrit :
>   # Unix.chmod "test1" 755;;

Unix file permissions are bit fields. If you want to yuse the easy
habitual notation, you need to use octal, not decimal: try 0o755.

[-- Attachment #2: Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 185 bytes --]

Re: [Caml-list] Unix file permissions bug?

[Matt Gushee]

On Sun, Jun 08, 2003 at 05:10:27PM -0400, john.chu@sun.com wrote:

> >   # Unix.chmod "test1" 755;;
> 
> This is 755 *decimal*.
> 
> It looks like you meant 
> 
> Unix.chmod "test1" 0o755;;

Ah ... quite so.

On Sun, Jun 08, 2003 at 11:15:32PM +0200, Nicolas George wrote:
> Le decadi 20 prairial, an CCXI, Matt Gushee a écrit?:
> >   # Unix.chmod "test1" 755;;
> 
> Unix file permissions are bit fields.

I knew that, of course, but hadn't given it much thought.

> If you want to yuse the easy
> habitual notation, you need to use octal, not decimal: try 0o755.

Hmm ... would it be unreasonable to request that this be noted in the
Unix module docs? Maybe I shouldn't take for granted that a Unix API
spells things the same as a shell, but that seems most intuitive for
people like me who have never done systems programming.

There's nothing difficult about using the octal notation, of course.
It's just unexpected, and surely I'm not the only one who wouldn't have
expected it.

-- 
Matt Gushee                 When a nation follows the Way,
Englewood, Colorado, USA    Horses bear manure through
mgushee@havenrock.com           its fields;
http://www.havenrock.com/   When a nation ignores the Way,
                            Horses bear soldiers through
                                its streets.
                                
                            --Lao Tzu (Peter Merel, trans.)

-------------------
To unsubscribe, mail caml-list-request@inria.fr Archives: http://caml.inria.fr
Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs FAQ: http://caml.inria.fr/FAQ/
Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners

Re: [Caml-list] Unix file permissions bug?

[Matt Gushee]

P.S. Thank you both!

-- 
Matt Gushee                 When a nation follows the Way,
Englewood, Colorado, USA    Horses bear manure through
mgushee@havenrock.com           its fields;
http://www.havenrock.com/   When a nation ignores the Way,
                            Horses bear soldiers through
                                its streets.
                                
                            --Lao Tzu (Peter Merel, trans.)

-------------------
To unsubscribe, mail caml-list-request@inria.fr Archives: http://caml.inria.fr
Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs FAQ: http://caml.inria.fr/FAQ/
Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners