Re: has this bug been fixed?

From: Stefaan A Eeckels (tengo_at_DELETEMEecc.lu)
Date: 08/23/04

  • Next message: Johnny Willemsen: "Error:Cannot generate a specialization of incomplete template class" 
    Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 15:37:40 +0200

    On 23 Aug 2004 12:16:31 GMT
    Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:

    > > Solaris: ln resolves the symlink
    > > GNU/Linux: ln resolves the symlink
    > > AIX: ln doesn't resolve unless the name ends in a slash
    > > HP-UX: ln doesn't resolve unless the name ends in a slash
    >
    > Thanks, Stefaan!

    You're welcome.

    > Does the Solaris (ln(1)) manual page mention an option like Linux'
    > "-n" option? I.e. can a person who *does* RTFM know that de default
    > behaviour, apparently, is to dereference a symlink, because there is an
    > option to not deference it?

    No. There is a -n option to "ln", but it means something
    different:

      /usr/bin/ln
         The following options are supported for /usr/bin/ln only:

         -n If the link is an existing file, do not overwrite the
               contents of the file. The -f option overrides this
               option.
               This is the default behavior for /usr/xpg4/bin/ln,
               and is silently ignored.

    So it would seem that the symlink is always resolved if it
    exists (a quick test confirms this). The man page contains
    the following:

    NOTES
         A symbolic link to a directory behaves differently than you
         might expect in certain cases. While an ls(1) on such a link
         displays the files in the pointed-to directory, an `ls -l'
         displays information about the link itself:

         example% ln -s dir link
         example% ls link
         file1 file2 file3 file4
         example% ls -l link
         lrwxrwxrwx 1 user 7 Jan 11 23:27 link -> dir

         When you cd(1) to a directory through a symbolic link, you
         wind up in the pointed-to location within the file system.
         This means that the parent of the new working directory is
         not the parent of the symbolic link, but rather, the parent
         of the pointed-to directory. For instance, in the following
         case the final working directory is /usr and not
         /home/user/linktest.

         example% pwd
         /home/user/linktest
         example% ln -s /usr/tmp symlink
         example% cd symlink
         example% cd ..
         example% pwd
         /usr

         C shell users can avoid any resulting navigation problems by
         using the pushd and popd built-in commands instead of cd.

    > > Neither of the two non-resolvers documents the fact that
    > > a final slash will cause the symlink to be resolved. So,
    > > sadly, RTFM doesn't solve everything ;-)
    >
    > It is interesting that AIX behaves in the same way as HP-UX. It
    > matches what I expect of AIX (and of BSD, Solaris and GNU/Linux (no
    > experience with, i.e. no opinion on, IRIX)).

    I think the standards can be read in many ways, and I'm not
    amazed at all that HP and IBM would interpret them in the
    strictest fashion. I must admit that as a long-time Solaris
    user, the AIX/HP-UX behaviour seems counter-intuitive (I expect
    a symlink to stand for the pointed-to object most, if not
    all of the time, and regularly curse the non-resolving ls -l
    behaviour).

    Take care, 

    -- 
Stefaan
-- 
"What is stated clearly conceives easily."  -- Inspired sales droid
  • Next message: Johnny Willemsen: "Error:Cannot generate a specialization of incomplete template class"

    Relevant Pages

    • Re: diff mishandling symlinks
      ... |> BTW, a symlink reference to a non-existant file, that may, or may not, ... |> come to exist later on, is a valid symlink. ... | comparing the metadata of the symbolic links. ... | time of the symbolic link, but unlike other files, the contents of the ...
      (comp.unix.programmer)
    • Re: [OpenVMS Alpha V8.3] SET FILE/SYMLINK ?
      ... (Peter 'EPLAN' LANGSTOeGER) ... feature. ... A symlink does not have to point to a file, like a logical name, it can contain ... And while the container for a symbolic link may be a file, ...
      (comp.os.vms)
    • Re: Finding all the links in a Unix file/directory path
      ... Since directory 'f' is a symbolic link to directory 'c', ... of the the file tree, i.e. if a directory entry was a symlink in the ... original then it should become a symlink in the copy, ... straightforward, but can be done with -l, readlink, ...
      (comp.lang.perl.misc)
    • Nonstandard symbolic link to a disk volume
      ... I create a symbolic link like "\??\Qwerty" which points to "\Device\HarddiskVolume1". ... Also the following examples of use of this symlink in the cmd are successful: ... Is there an opportunity to open a target volume in file explorer using the above symlink? ...
      (microsoft.public.development.device.drivers)