fs: fix rmSync error messages for non-ASCII paths

[Yeaseen]

This PR fixes incorrect and inconsistent error messages produced by fs.rmSync when deletion fails, especially for directories containing non-ASCII characters. The issue affected Linux and Windows differently but shared the same root cause: paths were embedded into custom error messages while also being passed separately to ThrowErrnoException.

1. Duplicate paths in error messages (Linux, ASCII paths)

fs.rmSync constructed messages like:

std::string message = "Permission denied: " + file_path_str;
env->ThrowErrnoException(err, "rm", message.c_str(), path_c_str);

Because ThrowErrnoException automatically appends the path, this resulted in duplicated paths when directory names were ASCII-only:

err.path: /tmp/_dir_0
err.message: EACCES, Permission denied: /tmp/_dir_0 '/tmp/_dir_0'

2. Corrupted paths for non-ASCII directory names (Linux)

When the directory name contained non-ASCII characters, embedding the path into the message caused UTF-8 bytes to be misinterpreted.

Example:

err.path: /tmp/速速速_dir
err.message: EACCES, Permission denied: '/tmp/é速速_dir'

Here, the first byte of the UTF-8 sequence was interpreted as a Latin-1 character (é), corrupting the path shown in the error message.

3. Inconsistent Windows paths (?\ prefix)

On Windows, err.path could expose raw extended-length paths prefixed with \\?\\, because the platform-specific normalization logic (StringFromPath) was not applied when constructing ErrnoException.
Example:

err.path: \\?\\C:\\temp\\速速速_dir

This is inconsistent with other fs APIs used in src/api/exceptions, which strip the prefix before exposing paths to JavaScript.

This PR fixes the issue by:

• Removing path concatenation from custom error messages
• Passing the path only via the path argument to ThrowErrnoException
• Relying on Node’s standard error formatting to attach paths safely
• Applying StringFromPath in src/api/exceptions for Windows so err.path is normalized correctly

A new test has been added: test-fs-rmSync-special-char-additional-error.js to verify that:

• fs.rmSync reports the correct error code
• err.path preserves non-ASCII directory names
• err.message includes the correct path
• No path corruption or duplication occurs

@joyeecheung @anonrig Please review this when you are available.

[codecov]

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 76.92308% with 3 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.
✅ Project coverage is 90.14%. Comparing base (f96dccc) to head (de31cdd).
⚠️ Report is 52 commits behind head on main.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
src/node_file.cc	40.00%	3 Missing ⚠️

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main   #61233      +/-   ##
==========================================
- Coverage   90.15%   90.14%   -0.02%     
==========================================
  Files         751      751              
  Lines      253443   253468      +25     
  Branches    47729    47737       +8     
==========================================
- Hits       228496   228493       -3     
- Misses      16201    16253      +52     
+ Partials     8746     8722      -24     

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
src/api/exceptions.cc	94.38% <100.00%> (+0.19%)	⬆️
src/node_file.cc	73.97% <40.00%> (+0.10%)	⬆️

... and 44 files with indirect coverage changes

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[LucasmDjuiw]

8,5/10.

Ce document est clair, techniquement précis et facile à comprendre. Sa structure est fluide et explique le problème et sa solution sans détails superflus. Pour atteindre 9 ou 10, il faudrait simplifier légèrement quelques Casino Frumzi phrases ou ajouter une courte phrase de conclusion soulignant l'impact pour les utilisateurs ou les responsables de la maintenance.

[joyeecheung]

Code LGTM, though I am a bit skeptical about the tests - it may not fare well on Windows in the CI or in people's local machines to change the permission this way. Can we use other safer error paths to check it instead? Perhaps the directory not empty one?

[Yeaseen]

@joyeecheung thanks for the feedback. I agree. I updated the test case for hitting NOT A DIRECTORY error. Let's see if it passes CI.

[Yeaseen]

@joyeecheung looks good so far. The failing test on mac is unrelated to my changes. I appreciate a rerun. Thanks.

[Yeaseen]

@joyeecheung CI is green now — would appreciate your review.

[Yeaseen]

@joyeecheung @anonrig @jazelly Please review this.

[github-actions]

This pull request has been marked as stale due to 90 days of inactivity.
It will be automatically closed in 30 days if no further activity occurs. If this is still relevant, please leave a comment or update it to keep it open.

[Yeaseen]

I am just marking this as bugs in rmSync error messages. If anybody thinks it's worth fixing, I'll be happy to update this PR.

[trivikr]

This PR needs a rebase.

[nodejs-github-bot]

CI: https://ci.nodejs.org/job/node-test-pull-request/76487/

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- Loading data for nodejs/node/pull/61233
✔  Done loading data for nodejs/node/pull/61233
----------------------------------- PR info ------------------------------------
Title      fs: fix rmSync error messages for non-ASCII paths (#61233)
Author     Yeaseen <u1464680@umail.utah.edu> (@Yeaseen)
Branch     Yeaseen:fix-additional-error-message-rmsync -> nodejs:main
Labels     c++, fs, author ready, needs-ci, commit-queue
Commits    3
 - fs: fix rmSync error messages for non-ASCII paths
 - test: add rmSync path duplication coverage
 - src/api: use std::string_view in exceptions StringFromPath
Committers 1
 - Yeaseen <yeaseen.arafat96@gmail.com>
PR-URL: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/61233
Reviewed-By: Yagiz Nizipli <yagiz@nizipli.com>
Reviewed-By: Trivikram Kamat <trivikr.dev@gmail.com>
------------------------------ Generated metadata ------------------------------
PR-URL: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/61233
Reviewed-By: Yagiz Nizipli <yagiz@nizipli.com>
Reviewed-By: Trivikram Kamat <trivikr.dev@gmail.com>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   ℹ  This PR was created on Thu, 01 Jan 2026 08:19:08 GMT
   ✔  Approvals: 2
   ✔  - Yagiz Nizipli (@anonrig) (TSC): https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/61233#pullrequestreview-3842014483
   ✔  - Trivikram Kamat (@trivikr): https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/61233#pullrequestreview-5008883829
   ✔  Last GitHub CI successful
   ℹ  Last Full PR CI on 2026-08-26T00:06:23Z: https://ci.nodejs.org/job/node-test-pull-request/76487/
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From https://github.com/nodejs/node
 * branch                  main       -> FETCH_HEAD
   af7f91d395..76bb3f7396  main       -> origin/main
✔  origin/main is now up-to-date
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 * branch                  refs/pull/61233/merge -> FETCH_HEAD
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Auto-merging src/node_file.cc
[main f6f137acb0] fs: fix rmSync error messages for non-ASCII paths
 Author: Yeaseen <yeaseen.arafat96@gmail.com>
 Date: Wed Dec 31 18:59:32 2025 -0700
 3 files changed, 72 insertions(+), 22 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 test/parallel/test-fs-rmSync-special-char-additional-error.js
[main d7cb4370ed] test: add rmSync path duplication coverage
 Author: Yeaseen <yeaseen.arafat96@gmail.com>
 Date: Wed Feb 18 04:19:43 2026 -0700
 1 file changed, 39 insertions(+), 21 deletions(-)
[main e81d066f15] src/api: use std::string_view in exceptions StringFromPath
 Author: Yeaseen <yeaseen.arafat96@gmail.com>
 Date: Wed Feb 18 13:57:57 2026 -0700
 1 file changed, 33 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)
   ✔  Patches applied
There are 3 commits in the PR. Attempting autorebase.
(node:2227) [DEP0190] DeprecationWarning: Passing args to a child process with shell option true can lead to security vulnerabilities, as the arguments are not escaped, only concatenated.
(Use `node --trace-deprecation ...` to show where the warning was created)
Rebasing (2/6)
Executing: git node land --amend --yes
--------------------------------- New Message ----------------------------------
fs: fix rmSync error messages for non-ASCII paths

fs.rmSync previously embedded paths directly into
custom error messages while also passing the path
to ThrowErrnoException.

This caused duplicated paths for ASCII names and
corrupted paths for non-ASCII directory names on
Linux, and inconsistent path formatting on Windows.

Remove path concatenation from custom messages and
rely on ThrowErrnoException to attach the path safely.
Add a test to cover non-ASCII directory names.

Signed-off-by: Yeaseen <yeaseen.arafat96@gmail.com>
PR-URL: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/61233
Reviewed-By: Yagiz Nizipli <yagiz@nizipli.com>
Reviewed-By: Trivikram Kamat <trivikr.dev@gmail.com>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[detached HEAD ed3ca6276f] fs: fix rmSync error messages for non-ASCII paths
 Author: Yeaseen <yeaseen.arafat96@gmail.com>
 Date: Wed Dec 31 18:59:32 2025 -0700
 3 files changed, 72 insertions(+), 22 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 test/parallel/test-fs-rmSync-special-char-additional-error.js
Rebasing (3/6)
Rebasing (4/6)
Executing: git node land --amend --yes
--------------------------------- New Message ----------------------------------
test: add rmSync path duplication coverage

Signed-off-by: Yeaseen <yeaseen.arafat96@gmail.com>
PR-URL: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/61233
Reviewed-By: Yagiz Nizipli <yagiz@nizipli.com>
Reviewed-By: Trivikram Kamat <trivikr.dev@gmail.com>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[detached HEAD 330b3c174e] test: add rmSync path duplication coverage
 Author: Yeaseen <yeaseen.arafat96@gmail.com>
 Date: Wed Feb 18 04:19:43 2026 -0700
 1 file changed, 39 insertions(+), 21 deletions(-)
Rebasing (5/6)
Rebasing (6/6)
Executing: git node land --amend --yes
--------------------------------- New Message ----------------------------------
src/api: use std::string_view in exceptions StringFromPath

Signed-off-by: Yeaseen <yeaseen.arafat96@gmail.com>
PR-URL: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/61233
Reviewed-By: Yagiz Nizipli <yagiz@nizipli.com>
Reviewed-By: Trivikram Kamat <trivikr.dev@gmail.com>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[detached HEAD 0494e54484] src/api: use std::string_view in exceptions StringFromPath
 Author: Yeaseen <yeaseen.arafat96@gmail.com>
 Date: Wed Feb 18 13:57:57 2026 -0700
 1 file changed, 33 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)
Successfully rebased and updated refs/heads/main.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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