Newsgroups: news.software.b
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: i-nodes and Cnews (really pre-SVR4 and C News)
Message-ID: <1991Apr9.171737.13113@zoo.toronto.edu>
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 1991 17:17:37 GMT
References: <1991Apr7.194503.22015@techbook.com> <1991Apr8.203030.7210@world.std.com> <1991Apr9.164220.13618@cs.utk.edu>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology

In article <1991Apr9.164220.13618@cs.utk.edu> Dave Sill <de5@ornl.gov> writes:
>Why would C News create symbolic links?  If you've symlinked an
>additional filesystem under /usr/spool/news, wouldn't it just follow
>the symlink and create regular files?

You have a slight misunderstanding here; the issue is cross-posted articles,
where the news system tries to make only *one* copy.  In that case, if the
places where links are supposed to be are on different filesystems, it has
to make symbolic links.

>I assume the -l option to
>expire is required to make it follow symlinks.

No, there is no "following" needed; the issue is that expire has to know
that it shouldn't blow away the first link to the article -- because some
or all of the others may be symlinks to that copy -- until all the others
have departed.

>How does copying cross-posted articles help?  You're still using an
>i-node...

On a different file system.
-- 
"The stories one hears about putting up | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
SunOS 4.1.1 are all true."  -D. Harrison|  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry