cp(1) manual/functionality

[Phil Pennock <phil@athenaeum.jellybaby.net>]

Hi,

OpenBSD 2.4 manual for cp(1):
-----------------------------< cut here >-------------------------------
     -f    For each existing destination pathname, remove it and create a new
           file, without prompting for confirmation, regardless of its permis-
           sions.  (The -i option is ignored if the -f option is specified.)
-----------------------------< cut here >-------------------------------

This doesn't match observed behaviour - the old file is not removed -
it is overwritten.

This matters when dealing with hard-linked files.

$ echo foo >a
$ echo wibble >b
$ ln a c
$ ls -li a b c
3615 -rw-r--r--  2 phil  users  4 Jun 26 18:59 a
3616 -rw-r--r--  1 phil  users  7 Jun 26 18:59 b
3615 -rw-r--r--  2 phil  users  4 Jun 26 18:59 c
$ cp -f b a
$ ls -li a b c
3615 -rw-r--r--  2 phil  users  7 Jun 26 18:59 a
3616 -rw-r--r--  1 phil  users  7 Jun 26 18:59 b
3615 -rw-r--r--  2 phil  users  7 Jun 26 18:59 c
$

Which is wrong - the documentation or the code?

(I'm not paranoid enough.  I just lost a file I needed because I was
 trying to do an atomic replace.  Serves me right for trying to be
 clever and not just copying the old one instead).

HTH, HAND
-- 
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