René's URL Explorer Experiment

{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","headline":"vfs: lchown follows symlinks instead of updating the link","articleBody":"### Version\n\nmain\n\n### Platform\n\n```text\nmacOS 26.5.2\n```\n\n### Subsystem\n\nvfs\n\n### What steps will reproduce the bug?\n\n```js\nimport fs from 'node:fs';\nimport path from 'node:path';\nimport vfs from 'node:vfs';\n\nconst mountPoint = path.resolve(`/tmp/vfs-lchown-${process.pid}`);\n\nconst virtualFs = vfs.create({ emitExperimentalWarning: false });\nvirtualFs.writeFileSync('/target.txt', 'target');\nvirtualFs.symlinkSync('/target.txt', '/link.txt');\nvirtualFs.mount(mountPoint);\n\nfs.lchownSync(path.join(mountPoint, 'link.txt'), 123, 456);\n\nvirtualFs.unmount();\n\nconst targetStats = virtualFs.lstatSync('/target.txt');\nconst linkStats = virtualFs.lstatSync('/link.txt');\n\nconsole.log({\n  target: { uid: targetStats.uid, gid: targetStats.gid },\n  link: { uid: linkStats.uid, gid: linkStats.gid },\n});\n```\n\n### How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?\n\nAlways\n\n### What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?\n\n```console\n{\n  target: { uid: 0, gid: 0 },\n  link: { uid: 123, gid: 456 }\n}\n```\n\n`lchown` should not follow the symlink; it should update the symlink’s own metadata and leave the target unchanged.\n\n### What do you see instead?\n\n```console\n{\n  target: { uid: 123, gid: 456 },\n  link: { uid: 0, gid: 0 }\n}\n```\n\n`fs.lchownSync()` updates the symlink target’s uid/gid while the symlink itself remains unchanged.\n\n### Additional information\n\n_No response_","author":{"url":"https://github.com/trivikr","@type":"Person","name":"trivikr"},"datePublished":"2026-07-18T07:25:31Z","url":"https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/64572"}