Test for directory existence in C

Question

I have a function that should create a directory. I want to test to make sure that the directory is

• created, and
• has the correct permissions

I can't use lstat since I get EPERM when I do so (I assume I'm not supposed to know that much about a directory). So what else should I use? I can try to open it it with opendir, but that doesn't tell me what its permissions are.

Answer 1

Actually, yes you should use stat or lstat, depends whether the dir is a symbolic link or not. If you are getting EPERM from lstat, that probably means that the dir you are passing to lstat is a link and it points to someplace where you do not have the apropriate permissions to even see if a dir or file exists.

In fact, are you sure you should be using lstat and not just stat?