When running "restore" with -x or -i (but not -r), it always prompts 
you near the end of the process with a "set owner/mode for '.'"?  As 
pointed out by VaX#n8 in PR bin/24690 (and others), this can be quite 
annoying, if say, you were hoping to accomplish a dump/restore -x 
pipeline unattended.

The issue is this: Because restore always restores all intervening 
directories, it will always "restore" ".".  But if you are only 
extracting a few files from the dump in, say, "/tmp", you really don't 
want the permissions on the current directory (/tmp), to be changed. 
On the other hand, if you're using "-x" to extract an entire file 
system, you do. Interrogating the user, though, isn't the unix way, 
and it isn't a robust solution.  Particularly, since it comes out of 
nowhere, an admin is likely to answer wrongly.

So, I propose letting restore figure out and perform the recommended 
practice all by itself:  In the patch below, the implicit dot-dir 
(when no arguments are given) will be extracted, the explicit dot-dir 
will be extracted (i.e.: when "." is supplied as an argument), but the 
incidental, intervening dot-dir will not. Of course I would update the 
man page, too.

Index: ./sbin/restore/dirs.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/src/sbin/restore/dirs.c,v
retrieving revision 1.41
diff -u -r1.41 dirs.c
--- ./sbin/restore/dirs.c	22 Oct 2004 22:38:38 -0000	1.41
+++ ./sbin/restore/dirs.c	3 Jan 2005 17:21:23 -0000
@@ -636,8 +636,7 @@
  				ep->e_flags &= ~NEW;
  				continue;
  			}
-			if (node.ino == ROOTINO &&
-		   	    reply("set owner/mode for '.'") == FAIL)
+			if (node.ino == ROOTINO && dotflag == 0)
  				continue;
  		}
  		if (ep == NULL) {
Index: ./sbin/restore/interactive.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/src/sbin/restore/interactive.c,v
retrieving revision 1.19
diff -u -r1.19 interactive.c
--- ./sbin/restore/interactive.c	7 Aug 2003 10:04:37 -0000	1.19
+++ ./sbin/restore/interactive.c	3 Jan 2005 17:21:23 -0000
@@ -135,6 +135,8 @@
  		ino = dirlookup(name);
  		if (ino == 0)
  			break;
+		if (ino == ROOTINO)
+			dotflag = 1;
  		if (mflag)
  			pathcheck(name);
  		treescan(name, ino, addfile);
Index: ./sbin/restore/main.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/src/sbin/restore/main.c,v
retrieving revision 1.28
diff -u -r1.28 main.c
--- ./sbin/restore/main.c	24 Oct 2004 17:01:07 -0000	1.28
+++ ./sbin/restore/main.c	3 Jan 2005 17:21:24 -0000
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@
  size_t	pagesize;
  FILE	*terminal;
  char	*tmpdir;
+int	dotflag = 0;

  FILE *Mtreefile = NULL;

@@ -285,6 +286,8 @@
  			ino = dirlookup(name);
  			if (ino == 0)
  				continue;
+			if (ino == ROOTINO)
+				dotflag = 1;
  			if (mflag)
  				pathcheck(name);
  			treescan(name, ino, addfile);
Index: ./sbin/restore/restore.h
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/src/sbin/restore/restore.h,v
retrieving revision 1.16
diff -u -r1.16 restore.h
--- ./sbin/restore/restore.h	22 Oct 2004 22:38:38 -0000	1.16
+++ ./sbin/restore/restore.h	3 Jan 2005 17:21:24 -0000
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
  extern int	vflag;		/* print out actions taken */
  extern int	uflag;		/* unlink file before writing to it */
  extern int	yflag;		/* always try to recover from tape errors */
+extern int	dotflag;	/* restore owner/mode of "." directory */
  /*
   * Global variables
   */

Comments?


Frederick