extending os.walk to support following symlinks

[idadesub]

BPO	1273829
Nosy	@loewis, @birkenfeld, @birkenfeld
Files	os.py.diff: patch against the cvs version of os.py test_os.diff: test_os windows fix against trunk revision 54670

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2007-04-09.16:07:57.000>
created_at = <Date 2005-08-26.07:21:24.000>
labels = []
title = 'extending os.walk to support following symlinks'
updated_at = <Date 2007-04-09.16:07:57.000>
user = 'https://bugs.python.org/idadesub'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2007-04-09.16:07:57.000>
actor = 'tmick'
assignee = 'zseil'
closed = True
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = ['None']
creation = <Date 2005-08-26.07:21:24.000>
creator = 'idadesub'
dependencies = []
files = ['6761', '6762']
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 1273829
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 11.0
messages = ['48670', '48671', '48672', '48673', '48674', '48675', '48676', '48677', '48678', '48679', '48680']
nosy_count = 7.0
nosy_names = ['loewis', 'tmick', 'georg.brandl', 'georg.brandl', 'zseil', 'aptshansen', 'idadesub']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'accepted'
stage = None
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = None
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue1273829'
versions = []

[idadesub]

this is a very simple extension to os.walk to optionally walk down
into symlink directories, when it is supported by the operating
system. This patch keeps a compatible interface by having this
option disabled.

[birkenfeld]

Logged In: YES
user_id=1188172

The docs to os.walk say:
"""
Note: On systems that support symbolic links, links to
subdirectories appear in dirnames lists, but walk() will not
visit them (infinite loops are hard to avoid when following
symbolic links). To visit linked directories, you can
identify them with os.path.islink(path), and invoke
walk(path) on each directly.
"""

Nevertheless, we could offer this option with a caution message.

[aptshansen]

I'm not sure if this is a good idea; although I am certain it would be useful at times. Dangerous! But if its documented, ... and there's our problem :)

Patch applies cleanly to the HEAD, but needs documentation.

[birkenfeld]

Added docs and tests and committed in rev. 54407.

[loewis]

The test suite patch (54482) broke the windows build. The assertion

self.assertEqual(len(all), 4)

fails because it finds 5 directories (link is a directory), then the rest of the
code is not executed. In turn, the tear-down code is not run, leaving the directories
behind. This causes subsequent tests to fail.

When fixing the code, I recommend to move the tear-down code into the tearDown
method of the test, to make sure it is always run.

[zseil]

Here is a patch that fixes test_os.WalkTests on Windows.

I also added a tearDown method to WalkTests and removed
Collin's changes to MakedirTests, because they are not
needed anymore.

File Added: test_os.diff

[loewis]

The patch is fine; please apply.

[zseil]

Commited as revision 54689.

[tmick]

Is there a separate bug for doc updates for this?

[zseil]

Hi Trent,

There is no separate issue yet. What is missing in
the docs? Georg updated the docs when he checked
in this patch.

[tmick]

Ziga,
My mistake: I failed to notice the change to Doc/lib/libos.tex.