[MiNT] Strange "feature" in ext2.xfs!

[Remi Villatel <maxilys@normandnet.fr>]

Hi everybody,

Yesterday, I crossed all my fingers together and I typed:

# mv killall * ./tempo

(Instead of
# mv killall* ./tempo
)

There were 2 files ("killall" and "killall.BAK") that I intended to move into
folder "tempo/".

The result is that "mv" moved all folders and files of the current directory
into "tempo/"... but it also moved "tempo/" in itself too! And at that very
moment, "mv" realized that it was a mistake because that's impossible unless you
turn the folder inside out --whatever it means. Then "mv" reported that "tempo/"
wasn't here any more although it had still some files to move.

I typed "ls" to see what "mv" did. What a great surprise! There were only a few
files left... but no folder left! Even "tempo/" had disappeared!

Although the folder wasn't here any more, fsck.ext2 reported that "." in folder
"tempo" pointed to itself (Something like that.) and that this error must be
fixed in an interactive session (i.e. without -p or -a option).

The problem occures ONLY on Ext2 partitions. I may be fool but I tried to
reproduce the same error on a Minix partition. I wanted to know if the bug came
from "mv" or from the underlying XFS... and about who I had to complain.  ;-)

"mv" on a Minix partition told me:

mv: cannot move `tempo' to a subdirectory of itself, `./tempo/tempo'

The message doesn't correspond exactly to the error but at least the Minix.XFS
prevents "mv" from corrupting the filesystem.

So, just for your information: IMHO there's a strange "feature" (aka bug) in
Ext2.XFS.

See you,

-- 
======================
Remi "Hunter" Villatel  ;-)
maxilys@normandnet.fr
======================