openssh bugs - Apr 2017 - [Bug 2710] New: remote ls -l <name> produces inconsistent info

https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2710

            Bug ID: 2710
           Summary: remote ls -l <name> produces inconsistent info
           Product: Portable OpenSSH
           Version: 7.5p1
          Hardware: ix86
                OS: Linux
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P5
         Component: sftp
          Assignee: unassigned-bugs at mindrot.org
          Reporter: doug at cs.dartmouth.edu

Remote ls -l produces different information for the same files
depending on whether or not a file argument (including wildcards) is
present. With a file argument, the link count is 0 and user and group
are given by number. Without an argument, link count is correct and
user and group are given by name.

The OS's where I have observed this are local=cygwin64 or Linux and
remote=Linux. I haven't tried any others.

To observe the behavior make an sftp connection, then execute commands
    ls -l
    ls -l *

I do not know the versions of sftp, since the command does not seem to
support a version inquiry. However the versions of ssh are
OpenSSH_7.4p1, OpenSSL 1.0.2j  26 Sep 2016      on cygwin64
OpenSSH_6.9p1, OpenSSL 1.0.1k-fips 8 Jan 2015   on Linux

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Damien Miller <djm at mindrot.org> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |djm at mindrot.org

--- Comment #1 from Damien Miller <djm at mindrot.org> ---
This is unfortunate, but expected.

When doing plain 'ls -l', the sftp-client uses the "longname"
listing
that is generated by the server since it often provides information
that is otherwise unavailable through the sftp protocol (e.g.
user/group names).

When doing a globbed ls, e.g. "ls -l *', sftp generates the listing at
the client side from the sftp equivalent of stat() operations on the
files.

We might implement a protocol extension to get user/group names from
the remote end, then we could use the latter path for consistency
always (for servers that support the extension anyway).

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--- Comment #2 from DOUGLAS MCILROY <doug at cs.dartmouth.edu> ---
It is more than unfortunate. It gives misinformation: link count 0. One
can learn by experiment that this is a quirk, but one's first
impression is that something has gone wrong. While a change in protocol
probably is the best fix, the bug could be ameliorated by either of the
following client-side methods:

1. Always perform ls -l as if it had no arguments, then display only
the requested entries. This gives fully familiar output at extra cost
in
server-side processing and data transmission. It probably entails a net
reduction in code.

2. Display link count as a nonnumeric indicator, e.g. one of {- _ ?}.
This eliminates the worst misunderstanding, but still gives surprising,
although correct, uid and gid. It costs nothing.

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Damien Miller <djm at mindrot.org> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Assignee|unassigned-bugs at mindrot.org |djm at mindrot.org
                 CC|                            |dtucker at zip.com.au
   Attachment #2989|                            |ok?(dtucker at zip.com.au)
              Flags|                            |

--- Comment #3 from Damien Miller <djm at mindrot.org> ---
Created attachment 2989
  --> https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/attachment.cgi?id=2989&action=edit
Replace link count with '?' when unavailable

I, and most people I've asked, prefer the user/group names to uid/gid,
so I think making sftp do the equivalent to "ls -l" would be a
negative
change.

This patch replaces the link count for the locally-synthesised file
list with '?' when it is unavailable.

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Damien Miller <djm at mindrot.org> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Blocks|                            |2698


Referenced Bugs:

https://bugzilla.mindrot.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2698
[Bug 2698] Tracking bug for OpenSSH 7.6 release
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Darren Tucker <dtucker at zip.com.au> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Attachment #2989|ok?(dtucker at zip.com.au)     |ok+
              Flags|                            |

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Damien Miller <djm at mindrot.org> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
         Resolution|---                         |FIXED
             Status|NEW                         |RESOLVED

--- Comment #4 from Damien Miller <djm at mindrot.org> ---
patch applied. This will be in OpenSSH 7.6

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Damien Miller <djm at mindrot.org> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|RESOLVED                    |CLOSED

--- Comment #5 from Damien Miller <djm at mindrot.org> ---
Close all resolved bugs after release of OpenSSH 7.7.

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