[Bug 2131117] [NEW] Rust coreutils test command doesn't report existing file is newer than non-existent file

[Jonathan Cast]

Public bug reported:

The -nt operator in the /usr/bin/test command does not handle non-
existent files correctly.

The OpenGroup standard says:

        pathname1 -nt pathname2

    True if pathname1 resolves to an existing file and pathname2 cannot
be resolved, or if both resolve to existing files and pathname1 is newer
than pathname2 according to their last data modification timestamps;
otherwise, false.

So given:

root at b78766553a96:~# touch foo
root at b78766553a96:~# rm -f bar
root at b78766553a96:~# ls -ld foo bar
ls: cannot access 'bar': No such file or directory
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Nov 12 01:58 foo

The command test foo -nt bar should succeed.

For the bash builtin, it does:

root at b78766553a96:~# test foo -nt bar; echo $?
0

But the /usr/bin/test command fails:

root at b78766553a96:~# /usr/bin/test foo -nt bar; echo $?
1

Package versions are:

root at b78766553a96:~# dpkg -S /usr/bin/test
coreutils-from-uutils: /usr/bin/test
root at b78766553a96:~# ls -l /usr/bin/test
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 Sep 26 18:16 /usr/bin/test -> ../lib/cargo/bin/coreutils/test
root at b78766553a96:~# dpkg -S /usr/lib/cargo/bin/coreutils/test
rust-coreutils: /usr/lib/cargo/bin/coreutils/test
root at b78766553a96:~# dpkg -l coreutils-from-uutils rust-coreutils
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name                  Version          Architecture Description
+++-=====================-================-============-==========================================
ii  coreutils-from-uutils 0.0.0~ubuntu24   all          coreutils from the uutils project
ii  rust-coreutils        0.2.2-0ubuntu2.1 amd64        Universal coreutils utils, written in Rust

Ubuntu version:

root at b78766553a96:~# cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=25.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=questing
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 25.10"

(Note: Tested this in a docker image. This is a hard blocker for me to
update my WSL.)

** Affects: rust-coreutils (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2131117

Title:
  Rust coreutils test command doesn't report existing file is newer than
  non-existent file

Status in rust-coreutils package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  The -nt operator in the /usr/bin/test command does not handle non-
  existent files correctly.

  The OpenGroup standard says:

          pathname1 -nt pathname2

      True if pathname1 resolves to an existing file and pathname2
  cannot be resolved, or if both resolve to existing files and pathname1
  is newer than pathname2 according to their last data modification
  timestamps; otherwise, false.

  So given:

  root at b78766553a96:~# touch foo
  root at b78766553a96:~# rm -f bar
  root at b78766553a96:~# ls -ld foo bar
  ls: cannot access 'bar': No such file or directory
  -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Nov 12 01:58 foo

  The command test foo -nt bar should succeed.

  For the bash builtin, it does:

  root at b78766553a96:~# test foo -nt bar; echo $?
  0

  But the /usr/bin/test command fails:

  root at b78766553a96:~# /usr/bin/test foo -nt bar; echo $?
  1

  Package versions are:

  root at b78766553a96:~# dpkg -S /usr/bin/test
  coreutils-from-uutils: /usr/bin/test
  root at b78766553a96:~# ls -l /usr/bin/test
  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 Sep 26 18:16 /usr/bin/test -> ../lib/cargo/bin/coreutils/test
  root at b78766553a96:~# dpkg -S /usr/lib/cargo/bin/coreutils/test
  rust-coreutils: /usr/lib/cargo/bin/coreutils/test
  root at b78766553a96:~# dpkg -l coreutils-from-uutils rust-coreutils
  Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
  | Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
  |/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
  ||/ Name                  Version          Architecture Description
  +++-=====================-================-============-==========================================
  ii  coreutils-from-uutils 0.0.0~ubuntu24   all          coreutils from the uutils project
  ii  rust-coreutils        0.2.2-0ubuntu2.1 amd64        Universal coreutils utils, written in Rust

  Ubuntu version:

  root at b78766553a96:~# cat /etc/lsb-release
  DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
  DISTRIB_RELEASE=25.10
  DISTRIB_CODENAME=questing
  DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 25.10"

  (Note: Tested this in a docker image. This is a hard blocker for me to
  update my WSL.)

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