[Bug 201083] mv a.c /doesnotexist results in usage message; not user friendly

[bugzilla-noreply at freebsd.org]

https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=201083

            Bug ID: 201083
           Summary: mv a.c /doesnotexist results in usage message; not
                    user friendly
           Product: Base System
           Version: 11.0-CURRENT
          Hardware: Any
                OS: Any
            Status: New
          Severity: Affects Many People
          Priority: ---
         Component: bin
          Assignee: freebsd-bugs at FreeBSD.org
          Reporter: ngie at FreeBSD.org

FreeBSD punts out a usage message with mv when the target doesn't exist:

$ uname -a
FreeBSD wkstn-fbsd-ngie 11.0-CURRENT FreeBSD 11.0-CURRENT #3
r275919+fef312b(projects/building-blocks): Thu Dec 18 16:14:11 PST 2014    
ngie at wkstn-fbsd-ngie:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC-WITHOUT-WITNESS  amd64
$ which mv
/bin/mv
$ mv src/test_bug_135934.c src/test_bug_149417.sh src/test_bug_151050.sh
src/test_new_build.sh idontexist
usage: mv [-f | -i | -n] [-hv] source target
       mv [-f | -i | -n] [-v] source ... directory

Fedora Linux 20 on the other hand has a more usable error message:

$ cat /etc/redhat-release 
Fedora release 20 (Heisenbug)
$ mv t_gdtoa.c /doesnotexist/
mv: cannot create regular file ‘/doesnotexist/’: Not a directory

POSIX says nothing about mv behavior, so I think it's safe to say that changing
the behavior from a usage message to something more usable is desired for
FreeBSD usability:
http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009604599/utilities/mv.html

-- 
You are receiving this mail because:
You are the assignee for the bug.