Instance version of `DirAccess.copy_absolute()` and `DirAccess.copy()` doesn't work with relative paths

[eh-jogos]

Production edit: The original report was about several limitations which are explained in the docs and should be discussed in a feature proposal. There had been one bug involved in the MRP, so the issue was renamed to reflect that bug.

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Godot version

4.0rc6

System information

Manjaro Linux using i3, Foward+

Issue description

Either I'm doing a dumb mistake or they are not working at all.

Whenever I try to use DirAccess.copy_absolute() or DirAcess.copy() I either get error 12 (ERR_FILE_CANT_OPEN) if I'm using an absolute path or error 7 (ERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) if I'm using a relative path.

But if I try to use the exact same paths on DirAccess.open() or FileAccess.open() they all work OK

Steps to reproduce

• Create a folder in an empty project
• try to copy icon.svg to that folder using DirAccess.copy_absolute() or DirAccess.copy()

or see MRP below

Minimal reproduction project

copy_not_working.zip

To make testing easier the MRP has a plugin that adds a tool menu to execute the function below:

func _copy_icon() -> void:
    var error := DirAccess.copy_absolute("res://icon.svg", "res://to/")
    print("error trying to copy file: %s"%[error])
    var file := FileAccess.open("res://icon.svg", FileAccess.READ_WRITE)
    print("error opening file: %s"%[file.get_open_error()])
    var dir_error := DirAccess.copy_absolute("res://folder_to_copy/", "res://to/")
    print("error trying to copy dir: %s"%[dir_error])
    var dir := DirAccess.open("res://folder_to_copy/")
    print("error opening 'res://folder_to_copy/': %s"%[dir.get_open_error()])
    var error_not_absolute := dir.copy("test.txt", "res://to/")
    print("error trying to copy 'test.txt' with 'copy' on and opened dir, and not from static 'copy_absolute': %s"%[error_not_absolute])
    print(dir.get_files())

it will try to copy either files or folders with copy_absolute() or just copy(), printing the errors and then trying to access the same files/folders and printing the OK errors.

[akien-mga]

The MRP doesn't work (and isn't minimal at all), it has some 3.x code which doesn't compile in 4.0.

[eh-jogos]

I drag and dropped the wrong zip file, that was an MRP from an old issue involving EditorResourcePicker on 3.x, just edited the description uploading the correct one.

[akien-mga]

So I can confirm some issues, but others are misuse of the API. See the documentation:

copy and copy_absolute handle files, not directories, and require a path from and to a file. So the first test should be:

    var error := DirAccess.copy_absolute("res://icon.svg", "res://to/copy.svg")

which works fine.

    var dir_error := DirAccess.copy_absolute("res://folder_to_copy/", "res://to/copy_folder")

fails, which seems to be expected given the documentation that copy only handles files. I'm not sure why it doesn't handle directories, but that should probably be discussed in a proposal to change it.

var dir := DirAccess.open("res://folder_to_copy/")
var error_not_absolute := dir.copy("test.txt", "res://to/copy.txt")

That fails too, which seems to be a bug, at least reading the documentation.

[eh-jogos]

Thanks a lot for the help!

I read that documentation a lot of times but I guess I glanced over the "files" word and only focused on paths being absolute or relative and the return error. I guess I assumed it would work with directories since it's a DirAccess function and not a FileAccess function? Anyway, my mistake in not paying more attention to the docs.

[KoBeWi]

I'm not sure why it doesn't handle directories, but that should probably be discussed in a proposal to change it.

I think it simply wasn't implemented. I don't know exactly how file APIs work, but I assume "copying directories" is just a recursive extension of copying files and may not be natively supported as a system function. I may be wrong tho.

[RedworkDE]

In core DirAccess has a copy_dir function to copy directories recursively since 3.0, but it is not exposed to scripting, likely because it was just added to support IOS exports.

[artcattleya]

For files it's return error too (7 if copy_absolute). Only for Exported project, in Editor it's ok.

[KoBeWi]

Directory contents are different on exported project. 7 is ERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND, which means that the file does not exist in the location you expect. Make sure you added *.db in additional exported files in export preset (the Resources tab in export dialog).

[artcattleya]

Thank you, I added, but nothing changes. Copy func works correctly (because db file opened from user: path), but I still have this error

[KoBeWi]

The file opens, because you copied it in the editor. Exported project uses the same user data folder. Can you attach some minimal project that reproduces your problem?

[artcattleya]

done https://github.com/artcattleya/godot-test

[KoBeWi]

Looks like copy_absolute() does not work with files inside PCK. Not sure if it's intended. Open a new issue, as it's unrelated to this one.

[YuriSizov]

So the remaining issue that is actually a bug here is that instances of DirAccess fail with relative paths for some reason. This should be investigated.

For exposing dir_copy (as a separate method or as enhancement of this one) please make a proposal. And for the PCK access issue please make a new bug report, if you haven't already.

[swlyons]

Ran into this issue in 4.2. This comment is just confirming the bug and its current behavior in 4.2

File structure is initialized like the following

E:\godot\Test Env\testdirectory\test.txt

func _ready():
    var dir = DirAccess.open("res://testdirectory")
    var error
    print(dir.file_exists("test.txt"))
    error = dir.copy("test.txt", "test2.txt")
    if(error==ERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND):
        print(str("File does not exist ",error))
    error = dir.rename("test.txt", "test2.txt")
    if(error==OK):
        print(str("Renaming works just fine"))
    error = dir.copy("testdirectory/test2.txt", "testdirectory/test3.txt")
    if(error==OK):
        print("So \"relative\" path seems to be relative from res://")

Here's the output

true
File does not exist 7
Renaming works just fine
So "relative" path seems to be relative from res://

and here's the file structure after running

E:\godot\Test Env\testdirectory\test2.txt E:\godot\Test Env\testdirectory\test3.txt

If nothing else, DirAccess.copy and DirAccess.rename should have identical behavior in determining where files are located and it currently does not.