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 2/2] mv: check for missing destination directory before renaming
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2026 21:40:31 +0000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <5ac15873623a3f519b01aa7419c579a310be164b.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>
Moving a file into a directory that does not exist fails at rename(2)
with ENOENT. The checking phase already rejects a missing destination
directory when the destination ends in a slash, but a destination that
names a file inside a non-existent directory is not caught and only
fails later at the syscall. The same is true when a leading path
component exists but is not a directory: rename(2) fails with ENOTDIR,
again only at the syscall. As a consequence "git mv -n" does not detect
either problem: the dry run never reaches rename(2) and reports a move
that would not actually succeed.
Detect this during the checking phase. For entries that will be renamed
on disk, stat the destination's leading directory and fail with a
suitable message if it is missing or is not a directory. stat() is used
rather than lstat() so that the check follows symlinks the same way
rename(2) does: a symlink to a directory is accepted, while a symlink to
a file is rejected. A missing directory or a non-directory path
component (ENOENT or ENOTDIR) reuses the existing "destination directory
does not exist" message; a leading component that resolves to a
non-directory reports "destination is not a directory". Other stat()
errors fall through to rename(2), which reports them as before.
Add tests covering the missing directory, a path component that is a
file, a symlink to a file, a symlink to a directory (which must still
succeed), and dry-run detection.
Signed-off-by: Lucas Zamboni Orioli <lucaszam0@gmail.com>
---
builtin/mv.c | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
t/t7001-mv.sh | 49 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2 files changed, 73 insertions(+)
diff --git a/builtin/mv.c b/builtin/mv.c
index 35e504484a..08e27484f2 100644
--- a/builtin/mv.c
+++ b/builtin/mv.c
@@ -444,6 +444,30 @@ dir_check:
goto act_on_entry;
}
+ /*
+ * If we are going to move SRC to DST on disk, DST's leading
+ * directories must already exist.
+ */
+ if (!(modes[i] & (INDEX | SPARSE | SKIP_WORKTREE_DIR)) &&
+ !(dst_mode & (SKIP_WORKTREE_DIR | SPARSE))) {
+ char *dst_dir = xstrdup(dst);
+ char *slash = strrchr(dst_dir, '/');
+
+ if (slash) {
+ struct stat dir_st;
+ *slash = '\0';
+ if (stat(dst_dir, &dir_st) < 0) {
+ /* other errors fall through to rename(), which reports them */
+ if (errno == ENOENT || errno == ENOTDIR)
+ bad = _("destination directory does not exist");
+ } else if (!S_ISDIR(dir_st.st_mode))
+ bad = _("destination is not a directory");
+ }
+ free(dst_dir);
+ if (bad)
+ goto act_on_entry;
+ }
+
if (ignore_sparse &&
(dst_mode & (SKIP_WORKTREE_DIR | SPARSE)) &&
index_entry_exists(the_repository->index, dst, strlen(dst))) {
diff --git a/t/t7001-mv.sh b/t/t7001-mv.sh
index 7cf4aa5ba1..c878fb92a8 100755
--- a/t/t7001-mv.sh
+++ b/t/t7001-mv.sh
@@ -114,6 +114,55 @@ test_expect_success 'clean up' '
git reset --hard
'
+test_expect_success 'moving to a non-existent path component in the destination' '
+ git reset --hard &&
+ mkdir -p from &&
+ echo content >from/file &&
+ git add from/file &&
+ test_must_fail git mv from/file no-such-dir/file 2>actual &&
+ test_grep "destination directory does not exist" actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'moving to a destination with a file as a path component' '
+ git reset --hard &&
+ mkdir -p from &&
+ echo contents >from/file &&
+ echo blocker >not-dir &&
+ git add from/file &&
+ test_must_fail git mv from/file not-dir/file 2>actual &&
+ test_grep "destination is not a directory" actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success SYMLINKS 'moving to a destination with a symlink to a file as a path component' '
+ git reset --hard &&
+ mkdir -p from &&
+ echo contents >from/file &&
+ echo target >regular &&
+ ln -s regular link-to-file &&
+ git add from/file &&
+ test_must_fail git mv from/file link-to-file/file 2>actual &&
+ test_grep "not a directory" actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success SYMLINKS 'moving to a destination with a symlink to a directory' '
+ git reset --hard &&
+ mkdir -p from realdir &&
+ echo contents >from/file &&
+ ln -s realdir link-to-dir &&
+ git add from/file &&
+ git mv from/file link-to-dir/file &&
+ test_path_is_file realdir/file
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'mv --dry-run detects non-existent destination parent directory' '
+ git reset --hard &&
+ mkdir -p from &&
+ echo content >from/file &&
+ git add from/file &&
+ test_must_fail git mv -n from/file no-such-dir/file 2>actual &&
+ test_grep "destination directory does not exist" actual
+'
+
test_expect_success 'moving to existing untracked target with trailing slash' '
mkdir path1 &&
git mv path0/ path1/ &&
--
gitgitgadget
prev parent 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 ` [PATCH v3 1/2] mv: name both source and destination when rename fails Lucas Zamboni Orioli via GitGitGadget
2026-07-23 21:40 ` Lucas Zamboni Orioli via GitGitGadget [this message]
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to=5ac15873623a3f519b01aa7419c579a310be164b.1784842831.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com \
--to=gitgitgadget@gmail.com \
--cc=ben.knoble@gmail.com \
--cc=git@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=lucaszam0@gmail.com \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox