bpo-34260, shutil: fix copy2 and copystat documentation (GH-8523)

Fix the documentation of copy2, as it does not copy file ownership (user and
group), only mode, mtime, atime and flags.

The original text was confusing to developers as it suggested that this
command is the same as 'cp -p', but according to cp(1), '-p' copies file
ownership as well.

Clarify which metadata is copied by shutil.copystat in its docstring.
This commit is contained in:
Zsolt Cserna 2018-10-23 12:09:50 +02:00 committed by Victor Stinner
parent b79b5c0949
commit 4f399be0e7
2 changed files with 12 additions and 6 deletions

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@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ Directory and files operations
.. function:: copy2(src, dst, *, follow_symlinks=True) .. function:: copy2(src, dst, *, follow_symlinks=True)
Identical to :func:`~shutil.copy` except that :func:`copy2` Identical to :func:`~shutil.copy` except that :func:`copy2`
also attempts to preserve all file metadata. also attempts to preserve file metadata.
When *follow_symlinks* is false, and *src* is a symbolic When *follow_symlinks* is false, and *src* is a symbolic
link, :func:`copy2` attempts to copy all metadata from the link, :func:`copy2` attempts to copy all metadata from the

View File

@ -312,11 +312,15 @@ else:
pass pass
def copystat(src, dst, *, follow_symlinks=True): def copystat(src, dst, *, follow_symlinks=True):
"""Copy all stat info (mode bits, atime, mtime, flags) from src to dst. """Copy file metadata
If the optional flag `follow_symlinks` is not set, symlinks aren't followed if and Copy the permission bits, last access time, last modification time, and
only if both `src` and `dst` are symlinks. flags from `src` to `dst`. On Linux, copystat() also copies the "extended
attributes" where possible. The file contents, owner, and group are
unaffected. `src` and `dst` are path names given as strings.
If the optional flag `follow_symlinks` is not set, symlinks aren't
followed if and only if both `src` and `dst` are symlinks.
""" """
def _nop(*args, ns=None, follow_symlinks=None): def _nop(*args, ns=None, follow_symlinks=None):
pass pass
@ -384,8 +388,10 @@ def copy(src, dst, *, follow_symlinks=True):
return dst return dst
def copy2(src, dst, *, follow_symlinks=True): def copy2(src, dst, *, follow_symlinks=True):
"""Copy data and all stat info ("cp -p src dst"). Return the file's """Copy data and metadata. Return the file's destination.
destination.
Metadata is copied with copystat(). Please see the copystat function
for more information.
The destination may be a directory. The destination may be a directory.