From c11887b4b34e4c8b0ef87ab84e3c2c6bdd5631c6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: fixfon <12512757+fixfon@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2026 10:38:26 +0300
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] chmod: keep operand order with --reference

With --reference, clap parses the first FILE operand as MODE and uumain() appended it after the other operands, so it was processed last. Insert it at the front instead.

Closes #15666
---
 src/uu/chmod/src/chmod.rs   |  5 +++--
 tests/by-util/test_chmod.rs | 45 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 48 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/uu/chmod/src/chmod.rs b/src/uu/chmod/src/chmod.rs
index 98abdfae2e..226b5080e9 100644
--- a/src/uu/chmod/src/chmod.rs
+++ b/src/uu/chmod/src/chmod.rs
@@ -177,9 +177,10 @@ pub fn uumain(args: impl uucore::Args) -> UResult<()> {
         .unwrap_or_default();
     let cmode = if fmode.is_some() {
         // "--reference" and MODE are mutually exclusive
-        // if "--reference" was used MODE needs to be interpreted as another FILE
+        // if "--reference" was used MODE needs to be interpreted as another FILE,
+        // the first one, so it must go in front to keep the command-line order
         // it wasn't possible to implement this behavior directly with clap
-        files.push(OsString::from(cmode));
+        files.insert(0, OsString::from(cmode));
         None
     } else {
         Some(cmode)
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_chmod.rs b/tests/by-util/test_chmod.rs
index 9e8aa22480..ba84769cda 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_chmod.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_chmod.rs
@@ -411,6 +411,51 @@ fn test_chmod_reference_file() {
     run_single_test(&tests[0], &at, ucmd);
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn test_chmod_reference_keeps_operand_order() {
+    let (at, mut ucmd) = at_and_ucmd!();
+    at.touch("ref");
+    at.set_mode("ref", 0o644);
+    for name in ["a", "b", "c"] {
+        at.touch(name);
+        at.set_mode(name, 0o600);
+    }
+
+    ucmd.args(&["-v", "--reference=ref", "a", "b", "c"])
+        .succeeds()
+        .stdout_is(
+            "mode of 'a' changed from 0600 (rw-------) to 0644 (rw-r--r--)\n\
+             mode of 'b' changed from 0600 (rw-------) to 0644 (rw-r--r--)\n\
+             mode of 'c' changed from 0600 (rw-------) to 0644 (rw-r--r--)\n",
+        );
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_chmod_reference_first_operand_before_its_parent_dir() {
+    use rustix::process::geteuid;
+
+    // The reference mode drops the search bit of `dir`, so `dir/file` is only
+    // reachable if it is handled first. root ignores directory permissions.
+    if geteuid().is_root() {
+        return;
+    }
+
+    let (at, mut ucmd) = at_and_ucmd!();
+    at.touch("ref");
+    at.set_mode("ref", 0o644);
+    at.mkdir("dir");
+    at.touch("dir/file");
+    at.set_mode("dir/file", 0o600);
+    at.set_mode("dir", 0o755);
+
+    ucmd.args(&["--reference=ref", "dir/file", "dir"])
+        .succeeds();
+
+    assert_eq!(at.metadata("dir").permissions().mode() & 0o7777, 0o644);
+    at.set_mode("dir", 0o755);
+    assert_eq!(at.metadata("dir/file").permissions().mode() & 0o7777, 0o644);
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn test_permission_denied() {
     let scene = TestScenario::new(util_name!());

From f8aba5d448ee6e71849912fd6b72bd7a01f2fb5d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: fixfon <12512757+fixfon@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2026 17:45:04 +0300
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] chmod: simplify --reference operand comment

---
 src/uu/chmod/src/chmod.rs | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/src/uu/chmod/src/chmod.rs b/src/uu/chmod/src/chmod.rs
index 226b5080e9..a2e12d726b 100644
--- a/src/uu/chmod/src/chmod.rs
+++ b/src/uu/chmod/src/chmod.rs
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ pub fn uumain(args: impl uucore::Args) -> UResult<()> {
     let cmode = if fmode.is_some() {
         // "--reference" and MODE are mutually exclusive
         // if "--reference" was used MODE needs to be interpreted as another FILE,
-        // the first one, so it must go in front to keep the command-line order
+        // it is the first FILE, keep the command-line order
         // it wasn't possible to implement this behavior directly with clap
         files.insert(0, OsString::from(cmode));
         None