upstream issue:
https://bugs.python.org/issue31940
There are two PR's proposed to fix this,
but both seem to be stalling waiting for review.
I previously used what appears to be the favored
of the two approaches[1] to fix this,
with plan of keeping it musl-only until PR was merged.
However, while writing up a commit message
explaining the problem and why it needed fixing...
I investigated a bit and found it increasingly
hard to justify anything other than ...
simply not using lchmod.
Here's what I found:
* lchmod is non-POSIX, seems BSD-only these days
* Functionality of lchmod isn't supported on Linux
* best scenario on Linux would be an error
* POSIX does provide lchmod-esque functionality
with fchmodat(), which AFAICT is generally preferred.
* Python intentionally overlooks fchmodat()[2]
electing instead to use lchmod() behavior
as a proxy for whether fchmodat() "works".
I'm not sure I follow their reasoning...
* both glibc and musl provide lchmod impls:
* glibc returns ENOSYS "not implemented"
* musl implements lchmod with fchmodat(),
and so returns EOPNOTSUPP "op not supported"
* Python doesn't expect EOPNOTSUPP from lchmod,
since it's not valid on BSD's lchmod.
* "configure" doesn't actually check lchmod usefully,
instead checks for glibc preprocessor defines
to indicate if the function is just a stub[3];
somewhat fittingly, if the magic macros are defined
then the next line of the C source is "choke me",
causing the compiler to trip, fall, and point
a finger at whatever is near where it ends up.
(somewhat amusing, but AFAIK effective way to get an error :P)
I'm leaving out links to threads on mailing lists and such,
but for now I hope I've convinced you
(or to those reading commit history: explained my reasons)
that this is a bit of a mess[4].
And so instead of making a big mess messier,
and with hopes of never thinking about this again,
I propose we simply tell Python "don't use lchmod" on Linux.
[1] https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/4783
[2] https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/28453feaa8d88bbcbf6d834b1d5ca396d17265f2/Lib/os.py#L144
[3] https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/28453feaa8d88bbcbf6d834b1d5ca396d17265f2/configure#L2198
[4] Messes happen, no good intention goes unpunished :).
Will Dietz
b11f3bc8e3