Problems moving my jails (mv: Operation not permitted)

Miroslav Lachman 000.fbsd at quip.cz
Sun Oct 5 10:19:22 UTC 2008


Ian Smith wrote:

> On Sat, 4 Oct 2008, Redd Vinylene wrote:
>  > On Sat, Oct 4, 2008 at 9:22 PM, George Hartzell <hartzell at alerce.com> wrote:
>  > > Redd Vinylene writes:
>  > >  > On Sat, Oct 4, 2008 at 9:02 PM, George Hartzell <hartzell at alerce.com> wrote:
>  > >  > >
>  > >  > > If you do an ls -lo /home/jail/box/usr/bin/chpass, you'll probably see
>  > >  > > the schg flag set.  Man chflags for more info and instructions on how
>  > >  > > to unset it
>  > >  > >
>  > >  > > g.
>  > >  > >
>  > >  >
>  > >  > Yes:
>  > >  >
>  > >  > -r-sr-xr-x  6 root  wheel  schg 18468 Aug  2 19:47 /usr/jail/box/usr/bin/chpass
>  > >  >
>  > >  > So I'd simply have to "chflags noschg /usr/jail/box/usr/bin/chpass"
>  > >  > and then "cp /usr/jail/box/usr/bin/chpass
>  > >  > /home/jail/box/usr/bin/chpass"?
>  > >
>  > > I think that you ought to be able to cp it as is.  You're just not
>  > > allowed to change the original (e.g. remove it), which is why your mv
>  > > and rm failed.
>  > >
>  > > g.
>  > >
>  > 
>  > I've been told that changing flags might seriously mess things up. Is
>  > there any way to copy the remaining files from /usr/jail into
>  > /home/jail, or do I have to rebuild everything from scratch?
> 
> Having read the thread to date, I reckon you should:
> 
>  a) find(1) all schg files in your jails (was chpass the only one?)
>  b) clear the schg flag on any such found as above (-R if you like)
>  c) use mv as you originally intended (if they're still there :)
>  d) chflags schg on all files that were originally set that way.
> 
> If you do use cp instead of mv, make sure to use cp -p to preserve 
> each file's owner/group/permissions/datestamp.
> 
>  e) make sure any and all symlinks still point to the right file/s.
> 
> Personally I'd use cp -pR rather than mv in case I stuffed it up :) but 
> then being perhaps overcautious I'd have started off with a 'ls -lR 
> /usr/jail > listfile' (if I hadn't made a backup tar) to at least have a 
> full list of what was where, with what user/perms etc ..
> 
> Also read cp(1) re -R flag carefully .. if there are any hard linked 
> files, as there may well be, then using tar to move these would be 
> the safest bet anyway - plus you'd have a backup .. next time anyway :)
> 
> Since it just failed to mv some files, you shouldn't need to rebuild if 
> you can mv those files and reset their flags/permissions correctly.

Yes, there are hardlinks, so "the best" way to move all files with 
preserving flags, permissions, links etc is something like this:
    [copy jails by tar (or use cpio if you prefer)]
tar -cf - -C /usr/jail . | tar -xpf - -C /home/jail
    [remove flags from old jail files]
chflags -R noschg /usr/jail
    [remove old jail files]
rm -r /usr/jail

But it applies only in case before you use chflags -R noschg on original 
files (as you post earlier - now you do not have flags anymore)

Another way is to use getfacl/setfacl or mtree to get backup of original 
files permissions and restore them later.

Miroslav Lachman


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