coreutils_5.97-5_i386.deb : install option -m with symbolic modes

[Roland Eggner]

On Friday September 15th 2006 10:32 Jim Meyering wrote:
> Roland Eggner <address@hidden> wrote:
> > install -m a-x SOURCE DEST
> > install -m a-X SOURCE DEST
> > both commands reset ALL bits like "chmod 000 DEST", should ONLY reset 
> > executable bits!
> 
> Thanks for the report, but install has always worked that way.
> That is the documented and long-accepted behavior.
> In "info coreutils install", you can read that the starting
> point for "relative" modes like "a-x" is 000, or "a=":
> 
> `-m MODE'
> `--mode=MODE'
>      Set the permissions for the installed file or directory to MODE,
>      which can be either an octal number, or a symbolic mode as in
>      `chmod', with `a=' (no access allowed to anyone) as the point of
>      departure (*note File permissions::).  The default mode is
>      `u=rwx,go=rx'--read, write, and execute for the owner, and read
>      and execute for group and other.
> 
Thanks for your kind reply.
In future I will try to read documentation more carefully .. meaning of 
"departure" was not clear enought for me, my knowledge of the english language 
is incomplete, beg pardon.

I notice, in contrast to cp
-  install NEVER uses permissions of SOURCE,
-  install NEVER uses UMASK.
Safty first..

Feature request:
Option -D (cannot find it in "info coreutils install") allows creating of 
directories and a file with a single statement.
If DEST is not an executable, we will likely want different permissions of 
created directories and the created file.
What about an additional option -M to install:
"install -D -m MODEofFILE -M MODEofDIRECTORIES SOURCE DEST"?

-- 
Roland Eggner     A-8020 Graz, Vinzenzgasse 36     Telefon 0043-316-58 66 48

Wer seinen Computer einrichtet, hat die Qual der Wahl:
Das Computer-Betriebs- und -Bremssystem einer amerikanischen Fensterfirma?
Oder ein Betriebssystem wie Linux, dessen Zuverlässigkeit und Effizienz
Internetnutzer jeden Tag erleben, zum Beispiel mit Google und mit Yahoo?