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From: "Lucas Zamboni Orioli via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
To: git@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Ben Knoble <ben.knoble@gmail.com>,
	Lucas Zamboni Orioli <lucaszam0@gmail.com>,
	Lucas Zamboni Orioli <lucaszam0@gmail.com>
Subject: [PATCH v3 1/2] mv: name both source and destination when rename fails
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2026 21:40:30 +0000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <0d67da588bc86c5257ce366903ae58e171159b8b.1784842831.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <pull.2356.v3.git.git.1784842831.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>

From: Lucas Zamboni Orioli <lucaszam0@gmail.com>

When "git mv" fails at the rename(2) syscall, the error is reported
with die_errno() using only the source path:

    fatal: renaming 'src' failed: No such file or directory

rename(2) returns ENOENT both when the source does not exist and when
a directory component of the destination does not exist, and errno
does not distinguish the two. Reporting only the source therefore
misleads the user in the latter case: for

    git mv a/file b/no-such-dir/file

the message blames 'a/file', which exists, and gives no hint that
'b/no-such-dir/' is the missing part.

Inspecting the paths again after the failure to determine which one is
at fault would be racy, since either could appear or disappear between
the rename(2) and the follow-up check. Instead, simply name both the
source and the destination in the message and let the reader see which
one is wrong:

    fatal: renaming 'a/file' to 'b/no-such-dir/file' failed:
    No such file or directory

Signed-off-by: Lucas Zamboni Orioli <lucaszam0@gmail.com>
---
 builtin/mv.c | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/builtin/mv.c b/builtin/mv.c
index a82fc97a19..35e504484a 100644
--- a/builtin/mv.c
+++ b/builtin/mv.c
@@ -549,7 +549,7 @@ remove_entry:
 		    rename(src, dst) < 0) {
 			if (ignore_errors)
 				continue;
-			die_errno(_("renaming '%s' failed"), src);
+			die_errno(_("renaming '%s' to '%s' failed"), src, dst);
 		}
 		if (submodule_gitfiles[i]) {
 			if (!update_path_in_gitmodules(src, dst))
-- 
gitgitgadget


  reply	other threads:[~2026-07-23 21:40 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 15+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-07-15 14:32 [PATCH] mv: report missing destination leading directory Lucas Zamboni Orioli via GitGitGadget
2026-07-15 16:46 ` Ben Knoble
2026-07-22 21:32   ` Lucas Zamboni Orioli
2026-07-23 13:13 ` [PATCH v2 0/2] " Lucas Zamboni Orioli via GitGitGadget
2026-07-23 13:13   ` [PATCH v2 1/2] mv: name both source and destination when rename fails Lucas Zamboni Orioli via GitGitGadget
2026-07-23 17:36     ` Junio C Hamano
2026-07-23 13:13   ` [PATCH v2 2/2] mv: check for missing destination directory before renaming Lucas Zamboni Orioli via GitGitGadget
2026-07-23 17:42     ` Junio C Hamano
2026-07-23 18:30     ` Junio C Hamano
2026-07-23 21:38       ` Lucas Zamboni Orioli
2026-07-23 22:40         ` Junio C Hamano
2026-07-23 23:28         ` Junio C Hamano
2026-07-23 21:40   ` [PATCH v3 0/2] mv: report missing destination leading directory Lucas Zamboni Orioli via GitGitGadget
2026-07-23 21:40     ` Lucas Zamboni Orioli via GitGitGadget [this message]
2026-07-23 21:40     ` [PATCH v3 2/2] mv: check for missing destination directory before renaming Lucas Zamboni Orioli via GitGitGadget

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