dos2unix fails between filesystems

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 2

Situation

When dos2unix is run in a different directory than the target directory and across filesystems, the command fails. If the input file and output file is the same file/filename, the original, input file gets corrupted.

Symptoms:

The dosfile is in the directory /mnt (filesystem: reiserfs) and the target directory is /tmp (filesystem: ext3), dos2unix fails converting the file:

hostname: ~ # cd /mnt/
hostname:/mnt # dos2unix -n /mnt/dosfile /tmp/unixfile
dos2unix: converting file /mnt/dosfile to file /tmp/unixfile in UNIX format ...
dos2unix: problems renaming './d2utmpll5EdT' to '/tmp/unixfile'
output file remains in './d2utmpll5EdT'
dos2unix: problems converting file /mnt/dosfile to file /tmp/unixfile

Change into the target directory /tmp and run dos2unix again, this time the file is converted:

hostname:/mnt # cd /tmp/
hostname:/tmp # dos2unix -n /mnt/dosfile /tmp/unixfile
dos2unix: converting file /mnt/dosfile to file /tmp/unixfile in UNIX format ...

The reason is that the output is generated first as temporary file in the current directory ('./d2utmpll5EdT') and then via rename, moved to the target directory, and rename() fails, because it does not support moves between filesystems.

Resolution

Use dos2unix on the same filesystem or run dos2unix in the target directory.

For SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 a patch resolving the problem is available.
Install the dos2unix update, dos2unix -3.1-438.22.1.
The dos2unix version in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server SP3 also corrects the problem.

Disclaimer

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