Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!RODAN.ACS.SYR.EDU!jdpeek
From: jdpeek@RODAN.ACS.SYR.EDU (Jerry Peek)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Does RCS *have to* trash hard links?
Message-ID: <8906261243.AA21290@rodan.acs.syr.edu>
Date: 26 Jun 89 13:43:01 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: Syracuse University; Syracuse, New York
Lines: 19

It's true (isn't it?) that you can't use the Revision Control System on
files which have more than one link.  In other words, things like this:
	ln name1 name2
	ci -u name1
	co -l name1
will break the link between "name1" and "name2".

To get around this, I either use symbolic links (which eat disk space)
or I do things by hand with temporary files, "mv", and "co -p".

Has anyone hacked RCS (co and ci, especially) to handle this?  You
couldn't let 'ci' delete the working file, of course; the "-u" or "-l"
flag would have to be required (or implicit).  And all "co" would do is:
	cat new_revision > old_revision
so that old_revision would always exist.

--Jerry Peek; Syracuse University Academic Computing Services; Syracuse, NY
  jdpeek@rodan.acs.syr.edu, jdpeek@sunris.bitnet
  +1 315 443-3995