Why is “rm -r” unable to delete this folder?

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12















I have a folder with -wx permissions called folder1 and another folder inside it called folder2 with rwx permissions.



I tried to delete folder1 using this command:



rm -r folder1


But I got the following error:



rm: cannot remove 'folder1': Permission denied


The reason I think I got this error is because the rm program needs to first get the content of folder1 (get the names of the files and folders inside folder1 that is) in order to be able to delete that content (because you can't delete a file or folder without knowing its name I think), and then the rm program can delete folder1 itself.



But since folder1 doesn't have the read permission, then the rm program can't get its content, and hence it can't delete its content, and since it can't delete its content, then it can't delete it.



Am I correct?










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  • 1





    Do "ls -l" and tell us what the permissions of the DIRECTORY are.

    – jamesqf
    Feb 25 at 0:11















12















I have a folder with -wx permissions called folder1 and another folder inside it called folder2 with rwx permissions.



I tried to delete folder1 using this command:



rm -r folder1


But I got the following error:



rm: cannot remove 'folder1': Permission denied


The reason I think I got this error is because the rm program needs to first get the content of folder1 (get the names of the files and folders inside folder1 that is) in order to be able to delete that content (because you can't delete a file or folder without knowing its name I think), and then the rm program can delete folder1 itself.



But since folder1 doesn't have the read permission, then the rm program can't get its content, and hence it can't delete its content, and since it can't delete its content, then it can't delete it.



Am I correct?










share|improve this question



















  • 1





    Do "ls -l" and tell us what the permissions of the DIRECTORY are.

    – jamesqf
    Feb 25 at 0:11













12












12








12


2






I have a folder with -wx permissions called folder1 and another folder inside it called folder2 with rwx permissions.



I tried to delete folder1 using this command:



rm -r folder1


But I got the following error:



rm: cannot remove 'folder1': Permission denied


The reason I think I got this error is because the rm program needs to first get the content of folder1 (get the names of the files and folders inside folder1 that is) in order to be able to delete that content (because you can't delete a file or folder without knowing its name I think), and then the rm program can delete folder1 itself.



But since folder1 doesn't have the read permission, then the rm program can't get its content, and hence it can't delete its content, and since it can't delete its content, then it can't delete it.



Am I correct?










share|improve this question
















I have a folder with -wx permissions called folder1 and another folder inside it called folder2 with rwx permissions.



I tried to delete folder1 using this command:



rm -r folder1


But I got the following error:



rm: cannot remove 'folder1': Permission denied


The reason I think I got this error is because the rm program needs to first get the content of folder1 (get the names of the files and folders inside folder1 that is) in order to be able to delete that content (because you can't delete a file or folder without knowing its name I think), and then the rm program can delete folder1 itself.



But since folder1 doesn't have the read permission, then the rm program can't get its content, and hence it can't delete its content, and since it can't delete its content, then it can't delete it.



Am I correct?







linux permissions rm






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edited Feb 24 at 20:54









psmears

44728




44728










asked Feb 24 at 10:18









JohnJohn

23119




23119







  • 1





    Do "ls -l" and tell us what the permissions of the DIRECTORY are.

    – jamesqf
    Feb 25 at 0:11












  • 1





    Do "ls -l" and tell us what the permissions of the DIRECTORY are.

    – jamesqf
    Feb 25 at 0:11







1




1





Do "ls -l" and tell us what the permissions of the DIRECTORY are.

– jamesqf
Feb 25 at 0:11





Do "ls -l" and tell us what the permissions of the DIRECTORY are.

– jamesqf
Feb 25 at 0:11










3 Answers
3






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19














I think your analysis is correct: you cannot delete the directory since its non-empty, and you cannot empty it since you cannot see its contents.



I just gave it a try:



$ mkdir -p folder1/folder2
$ chmod -r folder1
$ rm -rf folder1
rm: cannot remove 'folder1': Permission denied
$ rmdir folder1/folder2
$ rm -rf folder1
$


When I wrote “you”, I meant any program you may run. Your rm -r command first sees that folder1 is a directory, so it tries to discover its contents to empty it, but fails for missing read permission, then it tries to delete it but fails because it’s non-empty. The “Permission denied” is misleading; I think “Directory not empty” (like rmdir reports) would be more appropriate.)






share|improve this answer




















  • 4





    It can't report Directory not empty in this case since it would not know it was empty or not. You would still get the same error when trying to delete an empty directory that you don't have read permissions on. (Also, please disregard my previous comment, I didn't have my thinking cap on).

    – Kusalananda
    Feb 24 at 10:44







  • 1





    @Kusalananda That sounds sane, but rmdir is able to report “Directory not empty”. And if you read my test, you’ll see that it accepts to remove the folder1 directory, with no read permission, once I have emptied it.

    – user2233709
    Feb 24 at 11:24






  • 1





    Your test shows an interesting difference between our systems. I get a Permission denied when trying to rm -r folder1 when it's empty. I'm on OpenBSD, not Linux.

    – Kusalananda
    Feb 24 at 11:47











  • @Kusalananda That’s interesting. I would have thought that this behavior was specified by the Single Unix Specification, so that Linux and Free,Net,OpenBSD would behave identically. (For the record, I am using Debian Stretch 9.8 with a linux 4.9.144-3 x86_64 kernel.)

    – user2233709
    Feb 24 at 12:24












  • Hmm... The only thing that POSIX says is that if the operand is a directory and -r is used, each directory entry (except for . and ..) should be removed as if they were a file operand of rm -r. It appears as if GNU rm simply does a rmdir() on the directory if it's not readable, because it will have no way to get the contents of it.

    – Kusalananda
    Feb 24 at 12:33



















7














For deletion to occur the system must be able to read the contents and identify what has to be deleted.



I've tried simulating what you are attempting :



[vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ sudo rm -rf folder1/ && mkdir -pv folder1/folder2 && sudo chmod 333 -v folder1/ && sudo chmod 777 -v folder1/folder2
mkdir: created directory 'folder1'
mkdir: created directory 'folder1/folder2'
mode of 'folder1/' changed from 0775 (rwxrwxr-x) to 0333 (-wx-wx-wx)
mode of 'folder1/folder2' changed from 0775 (rwxrwxr-x) to 0777 (rwxrwxrwx)
[vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ ls -lh
total 0
d-wx-wx-wx. 3 vagrant vagrant 21 Feb 24 10:40 folder1
[vagrant@desktop1 ~]$


If we try deleting without read permissions it fails:



[vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ rm -r folder1/
rm: cannot remove 'folder1/': Permission denied
[vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ sudo chmod +r folder1/
[vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ rm -r folder1/
[vagrant@desktop1 ~]$


In an strace for the two attempts the difference is that the directory contents cannot be read (getdents):



newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
geteuid() = 1000
newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
faccessat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", W_OK) = 0
openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0


With read permissions:



newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW) = 3
fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFDIR) = 0
fcntl(3, F_GETFL) = 0x38800 (flags O_RDONLY|O_NONBLOCK|O_LARGEFILE|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW)
fcntl(3, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC) = 0
getdents(3, /* 3 entries */, 32768) = 80
close(3) = 0
geteuid() = 1000


To conclude even if you own a directory and it has the executable bit, you still need read permissions so that you may see its contents and delete the folder. It's not the same for a file though.






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    0














    Well, I don't have enough reputation to comment on the answer by ttaran7, so it looks like an answer it will have to be. My up-vote isn't publicly visible either, due to low reputation. I up voted that answer for actually including a system call trace, rather than just speculation.



    To answer the OP's question: Yes, your reasoning was correct: You get blocked at the failure to read the directory



    I ran a similar trace to what they (ttaran7) had done because I suspected the same reasoning: The rm call would fail upon failing to read the directory and that would be the end of that, no chance to complain about the directory being empty. Upon taking a second look at the trace that I took, I noticed that a system call was made to attempt to unlink the provided filename anyway:



    newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", 0311, st_size=4096, ..., AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
    openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_NOFOLLOW|O_DIRECTORY) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
    openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_NOFOLLOW|O_CLOEXEC|O_DIRECTORY) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
    unlinkat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", AT_REMOVEDIR) = -1 ENOTEMPTY (Directory not empty)
    openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/locale.alias", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
    fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFREG) = 0
    read(3, "# Locale name alias data base.n#"..., 4096) = 2995
    read(3, "", 4096) = 0
    close(3) = 0
    openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
    openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
    openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = 3
    fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFREG) = 0
    mmap(NULL, 45256, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f8db25ca000
    close(3) = 0
    openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale- langpack/en/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = 3
    fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFREG) = 0
    mmap(NULL, 578, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f8db25c9000
    close(3) = 0
    write(2, "rm: ", 4rm: ) = 4
    write(2, "cannot remove 'folder1'", 23cannot remove 'folder1') = 23
    openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
    openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
    openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = 3
    fstat(3, 0644, st_size=2893, ...) = 0
    mmap(NULL, 2893, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f8db25c8000
    close(3) = 0
    openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale-langpack/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
    write(2, ": Permission denied", 19: Permission denied) = 19
    write(2, "n", 1
    lseek(0, 0, SEEK_CUR) = -1 ESPIPE (Illegal seek)
    close(0) = 0
    close(1) = 0
    close(2) = 0
    exitgroup(1)


    Look at the 4th line: unlinkat... which fails because the directory is NOT empty. Now that is what I would consider unexpected behaviour, the fact it tries to delete the directory at all, despite not having read permissions that is.






    share|improve this answer

























    • Ah, you're right, I'll correct that when I get to a real keyboard. Thanks.

      – ojklan
      Feb 26 at 21:24










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    3 Answers
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    3 Answers
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    19














    I think your analysis is correct: you cannot delete the directory since its non-empty, and you cannot empty it since you cannot see its contents.



    I just gave it a try:



    $ mkdir -p folder1/folder2
    $ chmod -r folder1
    $ rm -rf folder1
    rm: cannot remove 'folder1': Permission denied
    $ rmdir folder1/folder2
    $ rm -rf folder1
    $


    When I wrote “you”, I meant any program you may run. Your rm -r command first sees that folder1 is a directory, so it tries to discover its contents to empty it, but fails for missing read permission, then it tries to delete it but fails because it’s non-empty. The “Permission denied” is misleading; I think “Directory not empty” (like rmdir reports) would be more appropriate.)






    share|improve this answer




















    • 4





      It can't report Directory not empty in this case since it would not know it was empty or not. You would still get the same error when trying to delete an empty directory that you don't have read permissions on. (Also, please disregard my previous comment, I didn't have my thinking cap on).

      – Kusalananda
      Feb 24 at 10:44







    • 1





      @Kusalananda That sounds sane, but rmdir is able to report “Directory not empty”. And if you read my test, you’ll see that it accepts to remove the folder1 directory, with no read permission, once I have emptied it.

      – user2233709
      Feb 24 at 11:24






    • 1





      Your test shows an interesting difference between our systems. I get a Permission denied when trying to rm -r folder1 when it's empty. I'm on OpenBSD, not Linux.

      – Kusalananda
      Feb 24 at 11:47











    • @Kusalananda That’s interesting. I would have thought that this behavior was specified by the Single Unix Specification, so that Linux and Free,Net,OpenBSD would behave identically. (For the record, I am using Debian Stretch 9.8 with a linux 4.9.144-3 x86_64 kernel.)

      – user2233709
      Feb 24 at 12:24












    • Hmm... The only thing that POSIX says is that if the operand is a directory and -r is used, each directory entry (except for . and ..) should be removed as if they were a file operand of rm -r. It appears as if GNU rm simply does a rmdir() on the directory if it's not readable, because it will have no way to get the contents of it.

      – Kusalananda
      Feb 24 at 12:33
















    19














    I think your analysis is correct: you cannot delete the directory since its non-empty, and you cannot empty it since you cannot see its contents.



    I just gave it a try:



    $ mkdir -p folder1/folder2
    $ chmod -r folder1
    $ rm -rf folder1
    rm: cannot remove 'folder1': Permission denied
    $ rmdir folder1/folder2
    $ rm -rf folder1
    $


    When I wrote “you”, I meant any program you may run. Your rm -r command first sees that folder1 is a directory, so it tries to discover its contents to empty it, but fails for missing read permission, then it tries to delete it but fails because it’s non-empty. The “Permission denied” is misleading; I think “Directory not empty” (like rmdir reports) would be more appropriate.)






    share|improve this answer




















    • 4





      It can't report Directory not empty in this case since it would not know it was empty or not. You would still get the same error when trying to delete an empty directory that you don't have read permissions on. (Also, please disregard my previous comment, I didn't have my thinking cap on).

      – Kusalananda
      Feb 24 at 10:44







    • 1





      @Kusalananda That sounds sane, but rmdir is able to report “Directory not empty”. And if you read my test, you’ll see that it accepts to remove the folder1 directory, with no read permission, once I have emptied it.

      – user2233709
      Feb 24 at 11:24






    • 1





      Your test shows an interesting difference between our systems. I get a Permission denied when trying to rm -r folder1 when it's empty. I'm on OpenBSD, not Linux.

      – Kusalananda
      Feb 24 at 11:47











    • @Kusalananda That’s interesting. I would have thought that this behavior was specified by the Single Unix Specification, so that Linux and Free,Net,OpenBSD would behave identically. (For the record, I am using Debian Stretch 9.8 with a linux 4.9.144-3 x86_64 kernel.)

      – user2233709
      Feb 24 at 12:24












    • Hmm... The only thing that POSIX says is that if the operand is a directory and -r is used, each directory entry (except for . and ..) should be removed as if they were a file operand of rm -r. It appears as if GNU rm simply does a rmdir() on the directory if it's not readable, because it will have no way to get the contents of it.

      – Kusalananda
      Feb 24 at 12:33














    19












    19








    19







    I think your analysis is correct: you cannot delete the directory since its non-empty, and you cannot empty it since you cannot see its contents.



    I just gave it a try:



    $ mkdir -p folder1/folder2
    $ chmod -r folder1
    $ rm -rf folder1
    rm: cannot remove 'folder1': Permission denied
    $ rmdir folder1/folder2
    $ rm -rf folder1
    $


    When I wrote “you”, I meant any program you may run. Your rm -r command first sees that folder1 is a directory, so it tries to discover its contents to empty it, but fails for missing read permission, then it tries to delete it but fails because it’s non-empty. The “Permission denied” is misleading; I think “Directory not empty” (like rmdir reports) would be more appropriate.)






    share|improve this answer















    I think your analysis is correct: you cannot delete the directory since its non-empty, and you cannot empty it since you cannot see its contents.



    I just gave it a try:



    $ mkdir -p folder1/folder2
    $ chmod -r folder1
    $ rm -rf folder1
    rm: cannot remove 'folder1': Permission denied
    $ rmdir folder1/folder2
    $ rm -rf folder1
    $


    When I wrote “you”, I meant any program you may run. Your rm -r command first sees that folder1 is a directory, so it tries to discover its contents to empty it, but fails for missing read permission, then it tries to delete it but fails because it’s non-empty. The “Permission denied” is misleading; I think “Directory not empty” (like rmdir reports) would be more appropriate.)







    share|improve this answer














    share|improve this answer



    share|improve this answer








    edited Feb 25 at 0:20









    terdon

    132k32262441




    132k32262441










    answered Feb 24 at 10:25









    user2233709user2233709

    1,098412




    1,098412







    • 4





      It can't report Directory not empty in this case since it would not know it was empty or not. You would still get the same error when trying to delete an empty directory that you don't have read permissions on. (Also, please disregard my previous comment, I didn't have my thinking cap on).

      – Kusalananda
      Feb 24 at 10:44







    • 1





      @Kusalananda That sounds sane, but rmdir is able to report “Directory not empty”. And if you read my test, you’ll see that it accepts to remove the folder1 directory, with no read permission, once I have emptied it.

      – user2233709
      Feb 24 at 11:24






    • 1





      Your test shows an interesting difference between our systems. I get a Permission denied when trying to rm -r folder1 when it's empty. I'm on OpenBSD, not Linux.

      – Kusalananda
      Feb 24 at 11:47











    • @Kusalananda That’s interesting. I would have thought that this behavior was specified by the Single Unix Specification, so that Linux and Free,Net,OpenBSD would behave identically. (For the record, I am using Debian Stretch 9.8 with a linux 4.9.144-3 x86_64 kernel.)

      – user2233709
      Feb 24 at 12:24












    • Hmm... The only thing that POSIX says is that if the operand is a directory and -r is used, each directory entry (except for . and ..) should be removed as if they were a file operand of rm -r. It appears as if GNU rm simply does a rmdir() on the directory if it's not readable, because it will have no way to get the contents of it.

      – Kusalananda
      Feb 24 at 12:33













    • 4





      It can't report Directory not empty in this case since it would not know it was empty or not. You would still get the same error when trying to delete an empty directory that you don't have read permissions on. (Also, please disregard my previous comment, I didn't have my thinking cap on).

      – Kusalananda
      Feb 24 at 10:44







    • 1





      @Kusalananda That sounds sane, but rmdir is able to report “Directory not empty”. And if you read my test, you’ll see that it accepts to remove the folder1 directory, with no read permission, once I have emptied it.

      – user2233709
      Feb 24 at 11:24






    • 1





      Your test shows an interesting difference between our systems. I get a Permission denied when trying to rm -r folder1 when it's empty. I'm on OpenBSD, not Linux.

      – Kusalananda
      Feb 24 at 11:47











    • @Kusalananda That’s interesting. I would have thought that this behavior was specified by the Single Unix Specification, so that Linux and Free,Net,OpenBSD would behave identically. (For the record, I am using Debian Stretch 9.8 with a linux 4.9.144-3 x86_64 kernel.)

      – user2233709
      Feb 24 at 12:24












    • Hmm... The only thing that POSIX says is that if the operand is a directory and -r is used, each directory entry (except for . and ..) should be removed as if they were a file operand of rm -r. It appears as if GNU rm simply does a rmdir() on the directory if it's not readable, because it will have no way to get the contents of it.

      – Kusalananda
      Feb 24 at 12:33








    4




    4





    It can't report Directory not empty in this case since it would not know it was empty or not. You would still get the same error when trying to delete an empty directory that you don't have read permissions on. (Also, please disregard my previous comment, I didn't have my thinking cap on).

    – Kusalananda
    Feb 24 at 10:44






    It can't report Directory not empty in this case since it would not know it was empty or not. You would still get the same error when trying to delete an empty directory that you don't have read permissions on. (Also, please disregard my previous comment, I didn't have my thinking cap on).

    – Kusalananda
    Feb 24 at 10:44





    1




    1





    @Kusalananda That sounds sane, but rmdir is able to report “Directory not empty”. And if you read my test, you’ll see that it accepts to remove the folder1 directory, with no read permission, once I have emptied it.

    – user2233709
    Feb 24 at 11:24





    @Kusalananda That sounds sane, but rmdir is able to report “Directory not empty”. And if you read my test, you’ll see that it accepts to remove the folder1 directory, with no read permission, once I have emptied it.

    – user2233709
    Feb 24 at 11:24




    1




    1





    Your test shows an interesting difference between our systems. I get a Permission denied when trying to rm -r folder1 when it's empty. I'm on OpenBSD, not Linux.

    – Kusalananda
    Feb 24 at 11:47





    Your test shows an interesting difference between our systems. I get a Permission denied when trying to rm -r folder1 when it's empty. I'm on OpenBSD, not Linux.

    – Kusalananda
    Feb 24 at 11:47













    @Kusalananda That’s interesting. I would have thought that this behavior was specified by the Single Unix Specification, so that Linux and Free,Net,OpenBSD would behave identically. (For the record, I am using Debian Stretch 9.8 with a linux 4.9.144-3 x86_64 kernel.)

    – user2233709
    Feb 24 at 12:24






    @Kusalananda That’s interesting. I would have thought that this behavior was specified by the Single Unix Specification, so that Linux and Free,Net,OpenBSD would behave identically. (For the record, I am using Debian Stretch 9.8 with a linux 4.9.144-3 x86_64 kernel.)

    – user2233709
    Feb 24 at 12:24














    Hmm... The only thing that POSIX says is that if the operand is a directory and -r is used, each directory entry (except for . and ..) should be removed as if they were a file operand of rm -r. It appears as if GNU rm simply does a rmdir() on the directory if it's not readable, because it will have no way to get the contents of it.

    – Kusalananda
    Feb 24 at 12:33






    Hmm... The only thing that POSIX says is that if the operand is a directory and -r is used, each directory entry (except for . and ..) should be removed as if they were a file operand of rm -r. It appears as if GNU rm simply does a rmdir() on the directory if it's not readable, because it will have no way to get the contents of it.

    – Kusalananda
    Feb 24 at 12:33














    7














    For deletion to occur the system must be able to read the contents and identify what has to be deleted.



    I've tried simulating what you are attempting :



    [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ sudo rm -rf folder1/ && mkdir -pv folder1/folder2 && sudo chmod 333 -v folder1/ && sudo chmod 777 -v folder1/folder2
    mkdir: created directory 'folder1'
    mkdir: created directory 'folder1/folder2'
    mode of 'folder1/' changed from 0775 (rwxrwxr-x) to 0333 (-wx-wx-wx)
    mode of 'folder1/folder2' changed from 0775 (rwxrwxr-x) to 0777 (rwxrwxrwx)
    [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ ls -lh
    total 0
    d-wx-wx-wx. 3 vagrant vagrant 21 Feb 24 10:40 folder1
    [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$


    If we try deleting without read permissions it fails:



    [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ rm -r folder1/
    rm: cannot remove 'folder1/': Permission denied
    [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ sudo chmod +r folder1/
    [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ rm -r folder1/
    [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$


    In an strace for the two attempts the difference is that the directory contents cannot be read (getdents):



    newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
    openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
    geteuid() = 1000
    newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
    faccessat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", W_OK) = 0
    openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
    newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0


    With read permissions:



    newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
    openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW) = 3
    fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFDIR) = 0
    fcntl(3, F_GETFL) = 0x38800 (flags O_RDONLY|O_NONBLOCK|O_LARGEFILE|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW)
    fcntl(3, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC) = 0
    getdents(3, /* 3 entries */, 32768) = 80
    close(3) = 0
    geteuid() = 1000


    To conclude even if you own a directory and it has the executable bit, you still need read permissions so that you may see its contents and delete the folder. It's not the same for a file though.






    share|improve this answer





























      7














      For deletion to occur the system must be able to read the contents and identify what has to be deleted.



      I've tried simulating what you are attempting :



      [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ sudo rm -rf folder1/ && mkdir -pv folder1/folder2 && sudo chmod 333 -v folder1/ && sudo chmod 777 -v folder1/folder2
      mkdir: created directory 'folder1'
      mkdir: created directory 'folder1/folder2'
      mode of 'folder1/' changed from 0775 (rwxrwxr-x) to 0333 (-wx-wx-wx)
      mode of 'folder1/folder2' changed from 0775 (rwxrwxr-x) to 0777 (rwxrwxrwx)
      [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ ls -lh
      total 0
      d-wx-wx-wx. 3 vagrant vagrant 21 Feb 24 10:40 folder1
      [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$


      If we try deleting without read permissions it fails:



      [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ rm -r folder1/
      rm: cannot remove 'folder1/': Permission denied
      [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ sudo chmod +r folder1/
      [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ rm -r folder1/
      [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$


      In an strace for the two attempts the difference is that the directory contents cannot be read (getdents):



      newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
      openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
      geteuid() = 1000
      newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
      faccessat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", W_OK) = 0
      openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
      newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0


      With read permissions:



      newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
      openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW) = 3
      fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFDIR) = 0
      fcntl(3, F_GETFL) = 0x38800 (flags O_RDONLY|O_NONBLOCK|O_LARGEFILE|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW)
      fcntl(3, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC) = 0
      getdents(3, /* 3 entries */, 32768) = 80
      close(3) = 0
      geteuid() = 1000


      To conclude even if you own a directory and it has the executable bit, you still need read permissions so that you may see its contents and delete the folder. It's not the same for a file though.






      share|improve this answer



























        7












        7








        7







        For deletion to occur the system must be able to read the contents and identify what has to be deleted.



        I've tried simulating what you are attempting :



        [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ sudo rm -rf folder1/ && mkdir -pv folder1/folder2 && sudo chmod 333 -v folder1/ && sudo chmod 777 -v folder1/folder2
        mkdir: created directory 'folder1'
        mkdir: created directory 'folder1/folder2'
        mode of 'folder1/' changed from 0775 (rwxrwxr-x) to 0333 (-wx-wx-wx)
        mode of 'folder1/folder2' changed from 0775 (rwxrwxr-x) to 0777 (rwxrwxrwx)
        [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ ls -lh
        total 0
        d-wx-wx-wx. 3 vagrant vagrant 21 Feb 24 10:40 folder1
        [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$


        If we try deleting without read permissions it fails:



        [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ rm -r folder1/
        rm: cannot remove 'folder1/': Permission denied
        [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ sudo chmod +r folder1/
        [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ rm -r folder1/
        [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$


        In an strace for the two attempts the difference is that the directory contents cannot be read (getdents):



        newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
        openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
        geteuid() = 1000
        newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
        faccessat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", W_OK) = 0
        openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
        newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0


        With read permissions:



        newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
        openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW) = 3
        fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFDIR) = 0
        fcntl(3, F_GETFL) = 0x38800 (flags O_RDONLY|O_NONBLOCK|O_LARGEFILE|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW)
        fcntl(3, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC) = 0
        getdents(3, /* 3 entries */, 32768) = 80
        close(3) = 0
        geteuid() = 1000


        To conclude even if you own a directory and it has the executable bit, you still need read permissions so that you may see its contents and delete the folder. It's not the same for a file though.






        share|improve this answer















        For deletion to occur the system must be able to read the contents and identify what has to be deleted.



        I've tried simulating what you are attempting :



        [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ sudo rm -rf folder1/ && mkdir -pv folder1/folder2 && sudo chmod 333 -v folder1/ && sudo chmod 777 -v folder1/folder2
        mkdir: created directory 'folder1'
        mkdir: created directory 'folder1/folder2'
        mode of 'folder1/' changed from 0775 (rwxrwxr-x) to 0333 (-wx-wx-wx)
        mode of 'folder1/folder2' changed from 0775 (rwxrwxr-x) to 0777 (rwxrwxrwx)
        [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ ls -lh
        total 0
        d-wx-wx-wx. 3 vagrant vagrant 21 Feb 24 10:40 folder1
        [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$


        If we try deleting without read permissions it fails:



        [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ rm -r folder1/
        rm: cannot remove 'folder1/': Permission denied
        [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ sudo chmod +r folder1/
        [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$ rm -r folder1/
        [vagrant@desktop1 ~]$


        In an strace for the two attempts the difference is that the directory contents cannot be read (getdents):



        newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
        openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
        geteuid() = 1000
        newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
        faccessat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", W_OK) = 0
        openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
        newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0


        With read permissions:



        newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", st_mode=S_IFDIR, AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
        openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1/", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW) = 3
        fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFDIR) = 0
        fcntl(3, F_GETFL) = 0x38800 (flags O_RDONLY|O_NONBLOCK|O_LARGEFILE|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOFOLLOW)
        fcntl(3, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC) = 0
        getdents(3, /* 3 entries */, 32768) = 80
        close(3) = 0
        geteuid() = 1000


        To conclude even if you own a directory and it has the executable bit, you still need read permissions so that you may see its contents and delete the folder. It's not the same for a file though.







        share|improve this answer














        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer








        edited Feb 24 at 21:42









        George

        1104




        1104










        answered Feb 24 at 10:48









        ttaran7ttaran7

        714




        714





















            0














            Well, I don't have enough reputation to comment on the answer by ttaran7, so it looks like an answer it will have to be. My up-vote isn't publicly visible either, due to low reputation. I up voted that answer for actually including a system call trace, rather than just speculation.



            To answer the OP's question: Yes, your reasoning was correct: You get blocked at the failure to read the directory



            I ran a similar trace to what they (ttaran7) had done because I suspected the same reasoning: The rm call would fail upon failing to read the directory and that would be the end of that, no chance to complain about the directory being empty. Upon taking a second look at the trace that I took, I noticed that a system call was made to attempt to unlink the provided filename anyway:



            newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", 0311, st_size=4096, ..., AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_NOFOLLOW|O_DIRECTORY) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_NOFOLLOW|O_CLOEXEC|O_DIRECTORY) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
            unlinkat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", AT_REMOVEDIR) = -1 ENOTEMPTY (Directory not empty)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/locale.alias", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
            fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFREG) = 0
            read(3, "# Locale name alias data base.n#"..., 4096) = 2995
            read(3, "", 4096) = 0
            close(3) = 0
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = 3
            fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFREG) = 0
            mmap(NULL, 45256, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f8db25ca000
            close(3) = 0
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale- langpack/en/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = 3
            fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFREG) = 0
            mmap(NULL, 578, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f8db25c9000
            close(3) = 0
            write(2, "rm: ", 4rm: ) = 4
            write(2, "cannot remove 'folder1'", 23cannot remove 'folder1') = 23
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = 3
            fstat(3, 0644, st_size=2893, ...) = 0
            mmap(NULL, 2893, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f8db25c8000
            close(3) = 0
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale-langpack/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            write(2, ": Permission denied", 19: Permission denied) = 19
            write(2, "n", 1
            lseek(0, 0, SEEK_CUR) = -1 ESPIPE (Illegal seek)
            close(0) = 0
            close(1) = 0
            close(2) = 0
            exitgroup(1)


            Look at the 4th line: unlinkat... which fails because the directory is NOT empty. Now that is what I would consider unexpected behaviour, the fact it tries to delete the directory at all, despite not having read permissions that is.






            share|improve this answer

























            • Ah, you're right, I'll correct that when I get to a real keyboard. Thanks.

              – ojklan
              Feb 26 at 21:24















            0














            Well, I don't have enough reputation to comment on the answer by ttaran7, so it looks like an answer it will have to be. My up-vote isn't publicly visible either, due to low reputation. I up voted that answer for actually including a system call trace, rather than just speculation.



            To answer the OP's question: Yes, your reasoning was correct: You get blocked at the failure to read the directory



            I ran a similar trace to what they (ttaran7) had done because I suspected the same reasoning: The rm call would fail upon failing to read the directory and that would be the end of that, no chance to complain about the directory being empty. Upon taking a second look at the trace that I took, I noticed that a system call was made to attempt to unlink the provided filename anyway:



            newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", 0311, st_size=4096, ..., AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_NOFOLLOW|O_DIRECTORY) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_NOFOLLOW|O_CLOEXEC|O_DIRECTORY) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
            unlinkat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", AT_REMOVEDIR) = -1 ENOTEMPTY (Directory not empty)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/locale.alias", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
            fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFREG) = 0
            read(3, "# Locale name alias data base.n#"..., 4096) = 2995
            read(3, "", 4096) = 0
            close(3) = 0
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = 3
            fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFREG) = 0
            mmap(NULL, 45256, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f8db25ca000
            close(3) = 0
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale- langpack/en/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = 3
            fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFREG) = 0
            mmap(NULL, 578, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f8db25c9000
            close(3) = 0
            write(2, "rm: ", 4rm: ) = 4
            write(2, "cannot remove 'folder1'", 23cannot remove 'folder1') = 23
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = 3
            fstat(3, 0644, st_size=2893, ...) = 0
            mmap(NULL, 2893, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f8db25c8000
            close(3) = 0
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale-langpack/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            write(2, ": Permission denied", 19: Permission denied) = 19
            write(2, "n", 1
            lseek(0, 0, SEEK_CUR) = -1 ESPIPE (Illegal seek)
            close(0) = 0
            close(1) = 0
            close(2) = 0
            exitgroup(1)


            Look at the 4th line: unlinkat... which fails because the directory is NOT empty. Now that is what I would consider unexpected behaviour, the fact it tries to delete the directory at all, despite not having read permissions that is.






            share|improve this answer

























            • Ah, you're right, I'll correct that when I get to a real keyboard. Thanks.

              – ojklan
              Feb 26 at 21:24













            0












            0








            0







            Well, I don't have enough reputation to comment on the answer by ttaran7, so it looks like an answer it will have to be. My up-vote isn't publicly visible either, due to low reputation. I up voted that answer for actually including a system call trace, rather than just speculation.



            To answer the OP's question: Yes, your reasoning was correct: You get blocked at the failure to read the directory



            I ran a similar trace to what they (ttaran7) had done because I suspected the same reasoning: The rm call would fail upon failing to read the directory and that would be the end of that, no chance to complain about the directory being empty. Upon taking a second look at the trace that I took, I noticed that a system call was made to attempt to unlink the provided filename anyway:



            newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", 0311, st_size=4096, ..., AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_NOFOLLOW|O_DIRECTORY) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_NOFOLLOW|O_CLOEXEC|O_DIRECTORY) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
            unlinkat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", AT_REMOVEDIR) = -1 ENOTEMPTY (Directory not empty)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/locale.alias", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
            fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFREG) = 0
            read(3, "# Locale name alias data base.n#"..., 4096) = 2995
            read(3, "", 4096) = 0
            close(3) = 0
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = 3
            fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFREG) = 0
            mmap(NULL, 45256, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f8db25ca000
            close(3) = 0
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale- langpack/en/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = 3
            fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFREG) = 0
            mmap(NULL, 578, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f8db25c9000
            close(3) = 0
            write(2, "rm: ", 4rm: ) = 4
            write(2, "cannot remove 'folder1'", 23cannot remove 'folder1') = 23
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = 3
            fstat(3, 0644, st_size=2893, ...) = 0
            mmap(NULL, 2893, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f8db25c8000
            close(3) = 0
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale-langpack/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            write(2, ": Permission denied", 19: Permission denied) = 19
            write(2, "n", 1
            lseek(0, 0, SEEK_CUR) = -1 ESPIPE (Illegal seek)
            close(0) = 0
            close(1) = 0
            close(2) = 0
            exitgroup(1)


            Look at the 4th line: unlinkat... which fails because the directory is NOT empty. Now that is what I would consider unexpected behaviour, the fact it tries to delete the directory at all, despite not having read permissions that is.






            share|improve this answer















            Well, I don't have enough reputation to comment on the answer by ttaran7, so it looks like an answer it will have to be. My up-vote isn't publicly visible either, due to low reputation. I up voted that answer for actually including a system call trace, rather than just speculation.



            To answer the OP's question: Yes, your reasoning was correct: You get blocked at the failure to read the directory



            I ran a similar trace to what they (ttaran7) had done because I suspected the same reasoning: The rm call would fail upon failing to read the directory and that would be the end of that, no chance to complain about the directory being empty. Upon taking a second look at the trace that I took, I noticed that a system call was made to attempt to unlink the provided filename anyway:



            newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", 0311, st_size=4096, ..., AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_NOFOLLOW|O_DIRECTORY) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", O_RDONLY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK|O_NOFOLLOW|O_CLOEXEC|O_DIRECTORY) = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
            unlinkat(AT_FDCWD, "folder1", AT_REMOVEDIR) = -1 ENOTEMPTY (Directory not empty)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/locale.alias", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
            fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFREG) = 0
            read(3, "# Locale name alias data base.n#"..., 4096) = 2995
            read(3, "", 4096) = 0
            close(3) = 0
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = 3
            fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFREG) = 0
            mmap(NULL, 45256, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f8db25ca000
            close(3) = 0
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale- langpack/en/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = 3
            fstat(3, st_mode=S_IFREG) = 0
            mmap(NULL, 578, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f8db25c9000
            close(3) = 0
            write(2, "rm: ", 4rm: ) = 4
            write(2, "cannot remove 'folder1'", 23cannot remove 'folder1') = 23
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_AU/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = 3
            fstat(3, 0644, st_size=2893, ...) = 0
            mmap(NULL, 2893, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f8db25c8000
            close(3) = 0
            openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale-langpack/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
            write(2, ": Permission denied", 19: Permission denied) = 19
            write(2, "n", 1
            lseek(0, 0, SEEK_CUR) = -1 ESPIPE (Illegal seek)
            close(0) = 0
            close(1) = 0
            close(2) = 0
            exitgroup(1)


            Look at the 4th line: unlinkat... which fails because the directory is NOT empty. Now that is what I would consider unexpected behaviour, the fact it tries to delete the directory at all, despite not having read permissions that is.







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            edited Feb 26 at 21:41

























            answered Feb 25 at 8:47









            ojklanojklan

            12




            12












            • Ah, you're right, I'll correct that when I get to a real keyboard. Thanks.

              – ojklan
              Feb 26 at 21:24

















            • Ah, you're right, I'll correct that when I get to a real keyboard. Thanks.

              – ojklan
              Feb 26 at 21:24
















            Ah, you're right, I'll correct that when I get to a real keyboard. Thanks.

            – ojklan
            Feb 26 at 21:24





            Ah, you're right, I'll correct that when I get to a real keyboard. Thanks.

            – ojklan
            Feb 26 at 21:24

















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