René's URL Explorer Experiment

{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","headline":"fs: rmSync() deletes a symlinked directory's contents then throws ENOTDIR when the path has a trailing slash","articleBody":"### Version\n\nv28.0.0-pre (main, 8d514c7b), v22.20.0 for comparison\n\n### Platform\n\nLinux 7.0.0-38-generic x86_64\n\n### Subsystem\n\nfs\n\n### What steps will reproduce the bug?\n\n`link` is a symlink to a directory. The path passed to `rm` ends with a slash.\n\n```js\nconst fs = require('node:fs');\nconst path = require('node:path');\nconst os = require('node:os');\n\nfunction setup() {\n  const d = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'rm-'));\n  fs.mkdirSync(path.join(d, 'dir'));\n  fs.writeFileSync(path.join(d, 'dir/keep.txt'), 'x');\n  fs.symlinkSync('dir', path.join(d, 'link'));\n  return d;\n}\n\nfunction report(label, d, err) {\n  console.log(label, err ? err.code : 'ok',\n    '| link:', fs.existsSync(path.join(d, 'link')),\n    'dir:', fs.existsSync(path.join(d, 'dir')),\n    'dir/keep.txt:', fs.existsSync(path.join(d, 'dir/keep.txt')));\n}\n\nlet d = setup();\ntry { fs.rmSync(path.join(d, 'link/'), { recursive: true }); report('rmSync', d); }\ncatch (err) { report('rmSync', d, err); }\n\nd = setup();\nfs.rm(path.join(d, 'link/'), { recursive: true }, (err) => report('rm', d, err));\n```\n\n### How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?\n\nEvery time. Requires a symlink to a directory, a trailing slash on the path, and `recursive: true`.\n\n### What is the expected behavior?\n\n`rmSync()`, `rm()` and `fsPromises.rm()` should do the same thing. Whatever that is, a call that throws should not leave the tree half deleted.\n\n### What do you see instead?\n\nOn main:\n\n```\nrmSync ENOTDIR | link: true dir: true dir/keep.txt: false\nrm ok | link: true dir: true dir/keep.txt: true\n```\n\n`rmSync()` deletes everything inside the target directory, then throws `ENOTDIR`. The symlink and the directory itself survive.\n\n`rm()` and `fsPromises.rm()` report success and delete nothing.\n\nOn v22.20.0, `rmSync()` throws `ENOTDIR` and deletes nothing, so the sync side regressed when `rmSync` moved to C++ in #53617 (7168295e).\n\n### Additional information\n\nWhy the three behaviors differ:\n\n- `rmSync()` is `std::filesystem::remove_all()`. The trailing slash makes `lstat()` follow the link, so the path reports as a directory. `remove_all` opens the directory, unlinks each entry, then calls `unlink(\"link/\")`, which fails with `ENOTDIR`. By then the entries are gone.\n\n  ```\n  statx(\"/tmp/rm-x/link/\", AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) = 0  (S_IFDIR)\n  openat(\"/tmp/rm-x/link/\", O_RDONLY|O_NOFOLLOW|O_DIRECTORY) = 20\n  unlinkat(20, \"keep.txt\", 0) = 0\n  unlink(\"/tmp/rm-x/link/\") = -1 ENOTDIR\n  ```\n\n- `rm()` and `fsPromises.rm()` use `internal/fs/rimraf`. `lstat()` also reports a directory, so `_rmdir()` calls `rmdir(\"link/\")`, which fails with `ENOTDIR`. `_rmdir()` turns `ENOTDIR` into `callback(originalErr)`, and `originalErr` is `null` on this path, so the call succeeds without touching anything.\n\nPOSIX `rm -rf link/` deletes the directory contents, leaves the link and the directory, and exits 0. So the sync behavior matches the shell except for the error at the end.\n\n#66673 normalizes dot segments but keeps a trailing slash, so it does not change this case.\n\nI am happy to send a PR once there is agreement on which behavior is wanted: match `rm -rf` (delete contents, succeed), or treat the path as the symlink and refuse with `ENOTDIR` before deleting anything.\n","author":{"url":"https://github.com/yohannesjoya","@type":"Person","name":"yohannesjoya"},"datePublished":"2026-11-01T15:41:00Z","url":"https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/67186"}