stupid question about user/groups shown with ls -l and ls -ln

[Larry Hall (Cygwin)]

DePriest, Jason R. wrote:
> If I run ls -l from /cygdrive/c it shows pagefile.sys as
> ----------    1 ???????? ????????    1595523072 Oct 12 10:43 pagefile.sys
> 
> I hate seeing the little '?' in my ls output.  Normally, I just do ls
> -ln and look up what user name and group the SSIDs match with.
> 
> However, with pagefile.sys you get this instead
> ----------    1 4294967295 4294967295 1595523072 Oct 12 10:43 pagefile.sys
> 
> WTF?  That makes no sense.
> 
> That big number corresponds with FFFF FFFF in hex or the biggest
> 32-bit integer (around 4GB in the 2 to the X naming convention for GB
> -- sorry I can't bring myself to gibibyte).  I learned something new
> today looking that up.  Everybody knows 655535, but I'd never seen
> this one before.
> 
> Is this ls's way of saying it has no idea?  Does Windows actually
> provide a value that internally corresponds to this number?
> 
> Incidentally, getfacl comes up with the same value (not surprising).
> 
> Thank you!

pagefile.sys is locked by the O/S.  Cygwin tries to open files to determine
if they're executable, etc.  Because it's locked, it can't get this and
other info.  So what you're seeing are the defaults when no information
can be found.

--
Larry Hall                              http://www.rfk.com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
216 Dalton Rd.                          (508) 893-9889 - FAX
Holliston, MA 01746

_____________________________________________________________________

A: Yes.
 > Q: Are you sure?
 >> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
 >>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email?

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