Bug 610559

+++ This bug was initially created as a clone of Bug #609262 +++

Description of problem:
The man page for the mkdir command is not very clear about what permissions apply when creating parent directories as opposed to leaf-node directories.  The info page is slightly more verbose but still doesn't spell the behavior out clearly enough (assuming no familiarity).

How reproducible:
Easy

Steps to Reproduce:
1. info mkdir
2. man mkdir
3. (umask 072; mkdir -p -m 775 /tmp/foo/bar /tmp/foo/bar/baz)
4. ls -lad /tmp/foo /tmp/foo/bar /tmp/foo/bar/baz
  
Actual results:
Confusion as to why parent directories aren't also created with 777.  Confusion as to what applies when creating parent directories.

Expected results:
man page and info page content should both be explicit and clear regarding behavior when multiple parent and leaf-node directories are created.

Additional info:
The -m option ONLY affects the leaf-node directories listed on command line, NOT parent directories possibly created because of -p.  For parent (-p) created directories, it uses "umask modified by 'u+wx'".  Ideally -m would apply to both (seems intuitive), but failing that at least the man/info pages could be clearer.


--- Additional comment from cevich on 2010-06-30 09:55:09 EDT ---

Yeah, adding note to info page is probably fine.  Could just be something simple like:

Note: The --mode,-m option only applies to the right-most directories listed on the command line.  When combined with --parents, -p option, any parent directories are created with u+wx modified by umask.