Do not replace /dev/null with a regular file in WriteFile (#31038)

WriteFile unlinks its target before creating it with O_CREAT. The unlink is
there so a running executable can be replaced, since you cannot open one with
O_TRUNC; it has been in the function since the first import, when WriteFile's
job was to write executables: the open used mode 0755 and the comment said so.

`//src/test/cpp/util:file_test` writes to /dev/null, in TestWriteFile and again
with a four-gigabyte NUL-filled buffer in TestLargeFileWrite. As an ordinary
user the unlink fails and the write reaches the device, so nothing happens.
As root it succeeds and the node becomes a regular file.

On GitHub's ubuntu-latest runner, where /dev is devtmpfs, at 870abbbd,
running the test as root:

    before   /dev/null  character special file  crw-rw-rw-  1:3
    //src/test/cpp/util:file_test    PASSED
    after    /dev/null  regular file            -rw-r--r--  0:0  size=215

Debian 13 in a container and NetBSD 11.0/amd64 do the same. On NetBSD,
polling once a second while TestLargeFileWrite runs:

    t=7  Character Device  size=0
    t=8  Regular File      size=4000000000
    t=9  Regular File      size=0

/dev holds a four-gigabyte file for about a second, until the next thing that
redirects to /dev/null truncates it.

What follows the missing device is harder to find than the device itself:
`2>/dev/null` becomes a write, and the next program to read /dev/null gets
whatever was left there.

file_windows.cc already returns early for /dev/null. This is the same three
lines on the POSIX side. The POSIX test then writes to /dev/null and checks
that it is still a device: as an ordinary user that cannot fail, and as root
it fails there instead of quietly corrupting everything that runs after it.

    without the change, as root   file_posix_test.cc:336  Expected: true   FAILED
    with the change, as root      PASSED, /dev/null still 1:3

file_test passes as an ordinary user on ubuntu-latest, macos-latest and
windows-latest (the Windows build does not compile either file touched here).
The tests that fail as root do so before and after alike:
FilePosixTest.CanAccess and FileTest.TestRemoveRecursivelyPosix.

Closes #31038

COPYBARA_INTEGRATE_REVIEW=https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/pull/31038 from zakinko:devnull-unlink 387d25a62bacb37fe62dd69b59d2af2aac450fb5
PiperOrigin-RevId: 1007302902
Change-Id: I8330d24a86a55799473113849ff10b0f327d928f
2 files changed
tree: 34d1b1c99ecbb2cf665c5c7b3e97df1f00cff6f0
  1. .bazelci/
  2. .devcontainer/
  3. .gemini/
  4. .github/
  5. docs/
  6. examples/
  7. scripts/
  8. src/
  9. third_party/
  10. tools/
  11. .bazelrc
  12. .bazelversion
  13. .gitattributes
  14. .gitignore
  15. AGENTS.md
  16. AUTHORS
  17. bazel_downloader.cfg
  18. BUILD
  19. CHANGELOG.md
  20. CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
  21. CODEOWNERS
  22. combine_distfiles.py
  23. combine_distfiles_to_tar.sh
  24. compile.sh
  25. CONTRIBUTING.md
  26. CONTRIBUTORS
  27. distdir.bzl
  28. extensions.bzl
  29. LICENSE
  30. maven_install.json
  31. MODULE.bazel
  32. MODULE.bazel.lock
  33. oneversion_allowlist.csv
  34. oneversion_allowlist_for_tests.csv
  35. pyproject.toml
  36. README.md
  37. repositories.bzl
  38. requirements.txt
  39. SECURITY.md
  40. verify_module_bazel_lock.sh
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