Weirdness with bind mounts and moving files from tmpfs

From: Richard Cochran
Date: Thu Apr 13 2023 - 20:23:36 EST


Dear list,

If a file is copied from tmpfs onto a bind mount, the contents update
as expected. However if a file is _moved_ from tmpfs onto a bind
mount, the old content persists.

For example, my PC has a tmpfs on /run:

# findmnt /run
TARGET SOURCE FSTYPE OPTIONS
/run tmpfs tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,size=5737612k,mode=755,inode64

Set up a bind mounted file...

# touch /opt/file
# echo one > /home/file
# mount -o bind /home/file /opt/file
# cat /opt/file
one

Coping a file onto the bind mount via the tmpfs on /run yields...

# echo two > /run/file
# cp /run/file /home/file
# cat /opt/file
two

So far, so good. Now do the same, but with 'mv' instead of 'cp'...

# echo three > /run/file
# mv /run/file /home/file
# cat /opt/file
two

At this point, the contents of /opt/file are stuck forever with "two"...

# echo three > /run/file
# cp /run/file /home/file
# cat /opt/file
two
# echo three > /home/file
# cat /opt/file
two

What is going on here? Is this a bug or a feature?

Thanks,
Richard