Bug#1055694: initramfs-tools: After updating coreutils cp: not replacing in console when running update-initramfs

[Sven Joachim <svenjoac@gmx.de>]

Control: reassign -1 klibc-utils
Control: affects -1 initramfs-tools

On 2023-11-10 19:17 +1100, Konomi wrote:

> Package: initramfs-tools
> Version: 0.142
> Severity: normal
> X-Debbugs-Cc: konomikitten@gmail.com
>
> Dear Maintainer,
>
> After updating coreutils from 9.1-1 to 9.4-1+b1 the following lines appear when
> running update-initramfs -u:
>
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/cat'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/cpio'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/dd'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/dmesg'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/false'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/gunzip'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/kill'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/ln'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/ls'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/mkdir'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/mkfifo'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/mknod'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/mount'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/mv'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/nuke'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/readlink'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/resume'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/sh'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/sleep'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/sync'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/true'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/umount'
> cp: not replacing '/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_vZS3YW/bin/uname'

FWIW, this has been triggered by the following changes in coreutils:

,----
| * Noteworthy changes in release 9.3 (2023-04-18) [stable]
|
| ** Changes in behavior
|
|   'cp -n' and 'mv -n' now issue an error diagnostic if skipping a file,
|   to correspond with -n inducing a nonzero exit status as of coreutils 9.2.
|
| * Noteworthy changes in release 9.2 (2023-03-20) [stable]
|
| ** Changes in behavior
|
|   'cp -n' and 'mv -n' now exit with nonzero status if they skip their
|   action because the destination exists, and likewise for 'cp -i',
|   'ln -i', and 'mv -i' when the user declines.  (POSIX specifies this
|   for 'cp -i' and 'mv -i'.)
`----

I looked for 'cp -n' in the initramfs-tools source and could not find
it.  It turns out that the actual culprit is the file
/usr/share/initramfs-tools/hooks/klibc-utils which uses the -n option,
apparently with good reason, namely not to overwrite files from busybox.

> The lines seem to be a cosmetic issue only, but I cannot be entirely sure.

There do not seem to be any ill effects beside the warnings.

Cheers,
       Sven