pathchk(1)

NAME

     pathchk - check path names

SYNOPSIS

     pathchk [-p] path...

DESCRIPTION

     The pathchk command will check that one or more  path  names
     are valid (that is, they could be used to access or create a
     file without causing syntax errors) and portable  (that  is,
     no  filename  truncation will result). More extensive porta-
     bility checks are provided by the -p option.

     By default, pathchk will check each component of  each  path
     operand  based  on  the underlying file system. A diagnostic
     will be written for each path operand that:

        o  is longer than PATH_MAX bytes.

        o  contains any component longer than NAME_MAX  bytes  in
           its containing directory

        o  contains any component in  a  directory  that  is  not
           searchable

        o  contains any character in any component  that  is  not
           valid in its containing directory.

     The format of the diagnostic message is not  specified,  but
     will  indicate the error detected and the corresponding path
     operand.

     It will not be considered an error if one or more components
     of  a  path  operand do not exist as long as a file matching
     the path name specified by the missing components  could  be
     created  that  does  not violate any of the checks specified
     above.

OPTIONS

     The following option is supported:

     -p    Instead of performing checks based on  the  underlying
           file  system, write a diagnostic for each path operand
           that:

              o  is longer than _POSIX_PATH_MAX  bytes

              o  contains    any    component     longer     than
                 _POSIX_NAME_MAX bytes

              o  contains any character in any component that  is
                 not in the portable filename character set.

OPERANDS

     The following operand is supported:

     path  A path to be checked.

USAGE

     See largefile(5) for the  description  of  the  behavior  of
     pathchk  when  encountering files greater than or equal to 2
     Gbyte ( 2**31 bytes).

EXAMPLES

     Example 1: Using the pathchk command

     To verify that all paths in  an  imported  data  interchange
     archive  are  legitimate and unambiguous on the current sys-
     tem:

     example% pax -f archive | sed -e '/ == .*/s///' | xargs pathchk
     if [ $? -eq 0 ]
     then
             pax -r -f archive
     else
          echo Investigate problems before importing files.
          exit 1
     fi

     To verify that all files in the current directory  hierarchy
     could  be  moved  to  any  system  conforming  to the X/Open
     specification that also  supports the pax(1) command:

     example% find . -print | xargs pathchk -p
     if [ $? -eq 0 ]
     then
             pax -w -f archive .
     else
          echo Portable archive cannot be created.
          exit 1
     fi

     To verify that a user-supplied path names  a  readable  file
     and  that  the  application  can create a file extending the
     given path without truncation and  without  overwriting  any
     existing file:

     example% case $- in
          *C*)    reset="";;
          *)      reset="set +C"
               set -C;;
     esac
     test -r "$path" && pathchk "$path.out" &&
          rm "$path.out" > "$path.out"
     if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
          printf "%s: %s not found or %s.out fails \
     creation checks.\n" $0 "$path" "$path"
          $reset    # reset the noclobber option in case a trap
               # on EXIT depends on it
          exit 1
     fi
     $reset
     PROCESSING < "$path" > "$path.out"

     The following assumptions are made in this example:

     1. PROCESSING represents the code that will be used  by  the
        application  to  use  $path  once  it  is  verified  that
        $path.out will work as intended.

     2. The state of the noclobber option is  unknown  when  this
        code is invoked and should be set on exit to the state it
        was in when this code was invoked. (The reset variable is
        used in this example to restore the initial state.)

     3. Note the usage of:

        rm "$path.out" > "$path.out"

        a.    The pathchk command has already verified,  at  this
              point, that $path.out will not be truncated.

        b.    With the noclobber option set, the shell will  ver-
              ify  that  $path.out  does not already exist before
              invoking rm.

        c.    If the shell succeeded in  creating  $path.out,  rm
              will  remove  it so that the application can create
              the file again in the PROCESSING step.

        d.    If the PROCESSING step  wants  the  file  to  exist
              already when it is invoked, the:

              rm "$path.out" > "$path.out"

              should be replaced with:

              > "$path.out"

              which will verify that the  file  did  not  already
              exist, but leave $path.out in place for use by PRO-
              CESSING.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

     See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment
     variables  that  affect  the  execution  of  pathchk:  LANG,
     LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.

EXIT STATUS

     The following exit values are returned:

     0     All path operands passed all of the checks.

     >0    An error occurred.

ATTRIBUTES

     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:

     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | SUNWcsu                     |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Interface Stability         | Standard                    |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|

SEE ALSO

     pax(1), test(1),  attributes(5),  environ(5),  largefile(5),
     standards(5)