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fs.rmSync cannot remove read-only files on Windows when Node is built with libc++ #64374
Description
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Hi! I've implemented a fix for this in PR #64453.
I added a Windows-specific helper
ClearReadOnlyAttributeWinsrc/node_file.ccthat is invoked if the standardstd::filesystem::removeorstd::filesystem::remove_allfails withstd::errc::operation_not_permitted(EPERM).On Windows,
libc++'s filesystem implementation does not clear theFILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLYattribute before deleting a file (unlike MSVC's STL which does). My helper manually detects if the read-only attribute is present, clears it recursively (or for a single file/symlink), and retries the removal operation.This brings Node.js builds compiled under
libc++(such as Electron) to parity with standard MSVC STL builds.I verified the fix with a new test case in
test/parallel/test-fs-rm.jstargeting read-only file/directory removal, and confirmed that all code style (cpplint/eslint) rules pass cleanly.Reacted by Ondrej Medek- added a commit that references this issue
on Sep 8, 2026 - added 2 commits that reference this issue
on Sep 16, 2026
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Platform
Subsystem
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What steps will reproduce the bug?
Use
fs.rmSyncon a read-only file on Windows.How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?
Note, this issue appears to only exhibit in Electron, but that is due to our specific build configuration (more at the bottom of this issue).
Downstream issue: electron/electron#52253
What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?
Read-only files should be able to be removed with
rmSync. This has worked previously.What do you see instead?
As per downstream issue, the call fails with
EPERM.Additional information
Since #53617, the implementation for
fs.rmSynchas been written in C++ (specifically usingstd::filesystem::remove). However, depending on the C++ stdlib being used, this leads to divergent behavior.filesystem::remove.libc++, currently, does not have such code and uses an API that does not support the removal of read-only files.Electron uses
libc++to build Node, so it encounters this divergent behavior. Should Node handle this inconsistency insideRmSync, or shouldlibc++be aligned with the behavior of the MSVC STL?