Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!ucselx.sdsu.edu!steer!g-patena
From: g-patena@steer.uucp (Mitch Patenaude)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Why aren't (hard) links to symbolic links allowed?
Message-ID: <1990May9.171340.5351@ucselx.sdsu.edu>
Date: 9 May 90 17:13:40 GMT
References: <874@nlsun1.oracle.nl>
Sender: news@ucselx.sdsu.edu (News Admin)
Reply-To: g-patena@steer.UUCP (Mitch Patenaude)
Organization: California State University Office of Computing and Communications
Lines: 19

In article <874@nlsun1.oracle.nl> bengsig@oracle.nl (Bjorn Engsig) writes:
[stuff deleted]
>........................... Shouldn't I be able to have more than one (hard)
>link to a file that happens to be a symbolic link?  If no, then why not?
  No.. in fact.. you don't even have one hard link... a symbolic link is 
just a specialized direcotry entry which makes reference to another 
filename (not even the i-node.. just the filename.. if the file it 
references  is moved or deleted.. the link does not follow it).. while a    
hard link makes another link to the i-node (and becomes indistinguishable
from the files it's linked to.) but the sybolic link has no i-node of it's
own.. only the referce to another file.. which is where the link is made.

>-- 
>Bjorn Engsig,	Domain:		bengsig@oracle.nl, bengsig@oracle.com
>		Path:		uunet!mcsun!orcenl!bengsig


-- Mitch Patenaude
    g-patena@steer.calstate.edu