path_resolution.7: Improve description of trailin slashes

See https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=212385

some/path/dir/ is not always the same as some/path/dir/:

$ mkdir u
$ rmdir u/.
rmdir: failed to remove 'u/.': Invalid argument
$ rmdir u
$

The text in POSIX.1-2018 Section 4.13 ("Pathname Resolution")
is helpful in pointing to a better wording.

Reported-by: Askar Safin <safinaskar@mail.ru>
Signed-off-by: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>

diff --git a/man7/path_resolution.7 b/man7/path_resolution.7
index f24837ef9ce5ffcf1d203dfb6eb8fe76a0a3d229..749f6900bb3c25e435a6f7f5ca1c3cde66a57100 100644 (file)
--- a/man7/path_resolution.7
+++ b/man7/path_resolution.7
@@ -177,10 +177,11 @@ with the
 flag set (though note that this also restricts bind mount traversal).
 .SS Trailing slashes
 If a pathname ends in a \(aq/\(aq, that forces resolution of the preceding
-component as in Step 2: it has to exist and resolve to a directory.
+component as in Step 2:
+the component preceding the slash either exists and resolves to a directory
+of it names a directory that is to be created immediately after the
+pathname is resolved.
 Otherwise, a trailing \(aq/\(aq is ignored.
-(Or, equivalently, a pathname with a trailing \(aq/\(aq is equivalent to
-the pathname obtained by appending \(aq.\(aq to it.)
 .SS Final symlink
 If the last component of a pathname is a symbolic link, then it
 depends on the system call whether the file referred to will be