#42711 [Opn->Bgs]: Unable to chown/chgrp of a symlink

ID: 42711 Updated by: iliaa@php.net Reported By: arnaud dot lb at gmail dot com -Status: Open +Status: Bogus Bug Type: Filesystem function related Operating System: Linux PHP Version: 5.2.4 New Comment: Thank you for taking the time to write to us, but this is not a bug. Please double-check the documentation available at http://www.php.net/manual/ and the instructions on how to report a bug at http://bugs.php.net/how-to-report.php You need to use the lchown() function. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2007-09-19 14:17:09] arnaud dot lb at gmail dot com Description: ------------ There is no way to change the owner or group of a symlink. Using chown and chgrp functions on a symlink affect the file referenced by the symbolic link, rather than the symbolic link itself. There should have a "$dereference" argument to be able to affect the file referenced by the symlink or the symlink itself. Reproduce code: --------------- <?php // Setup test files if (file_exists('test-referent')) unlink('test-referent'); if (file_exists('test-symlink')||is_link('test-symlink')) unlink('test-symlink'); touch('test-referent'); symlink('test-referent', 'test-symlink'); echo shell_exec('chown -h nobody test-symlink test-referent 2>&1'); echo "Original owners: \n"; echo shell_exec("ls -l test-referent test-symlink") . "\n"; // Test changing symlink owner with PHP's chown() function chown('test-symlink', 'root'); echo "New owners: \n"; echo shell_exec("ls -l test-referent test-symlink"); ?> Expected result: ---------------- chown should affect symlink owner instead of the referenced file Original owners: -rw-r--r-- 1 nobody root 0 2007-09-19 16:04 test-referent lrwxrwxrwx 1 nobody root 13 2007-09-19 16:04 test-symlink -> test-referent New owners: -rw-r--r-- 1 nobody root 0 2007-09-19 16:04 test-referent lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 2007-09-19 16:04 test-symlink -> test-referent Actual result: -------------- chown has affected the referenced file instead of the symlink itself Original owners: -rw-r--r-- 1 nobody root 0 2007-09-19 16:04 test-referent lrwxrwxrwx 1 nobody root 13 2007-09-19 16:04 test-symlink -> test-referent New owners: -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2007-09-19 16:04 test-referent lrwxrwxrwx 1 nobody root 13 2007-09-19 16:04 test-symlink -> test-referent ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=42711&edit=1