On Sat, 16 Jun 2001 14:34:07 +1000 (EST)
Bruce Evans <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

BE> We are (or at least I am) talking about changing it to prevent links to a
BE> string that can _never_ be a valid pathname.  Fortunately, in POSIX there
BE> is only one such string (the empty string).

        Maybe, but it seems a harmless special case to me, and others seem to
find it useful.

BE> Here's an example of a standard utility being clueless about symlinks to
BE> nothing:
BE> 
BE>     $ ln -s '' foo
BE>     $ cp foo bar
BE>     cp: foo is a directory (not copied)

        That *is* broken, it should make bar a symlink to '' IMHO.

BE> cp is also broken for symlinks to valid pathnames for nonexistent files;
BE> 
BE>     $ rm -f foo
BE>     $ ln -s /nonesuch foo
BE>     $ cp foo bar
BE> 
BE> This duplicates foo as a symlink, but should just fail.

        This is correct behaviour IMHO - why on earth should it fail. If I
copy a directory containing symlinks I don't want them do vanish just because
the target is unavailable.

-- 
    Directable Mirrors - A Better Way To Focus The Sun

                        http://www.best.com/~sohara

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