doc: clarify that cp by default doesn't adjust existing file perms

* doc/coreutils.texi (cp invocation): Mention explicitly what
happens to permissions of existing files when -p is not specified.
Fixes http://bugs.gnu.org/14972

diff --git a/doc/coreutils.texi b/doc/coreutils.texi
index fb36866404e3dd25adb10fb8a4313e94bb4cfcc9..81bc97f0914bc4f4ec607419e038c6088c750858 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/coreutils.texi
+++ b/doc/coreutils.texi
@@ -8261,7 +8261,8 @@ all but @samp{Operation not supported} warnings are output.
 Using @option{--preserve} with no @var{attribute_list} is equivalent
 to @option{--preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps}.
 
-In the absence of this option, each destination file is created with the
+In the absence of this option, the permissions of existing destination
+files are unchanged, while each new file is created with the
 mode bits of the corresponding source file, minus the bits set in the
 umask and minus the set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits.
 @xref{File permissions}.