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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!cca!ima!haddock!dan
From: dan@haddock.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.unix
Subject: Re: Symbolic links question - (nf)
Message-ID: <198@haddock.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 26-Jun-84 23:47:44 EDT
Article-I.D.: haddock.198
Posted: Tue Jun 26 23:47:44 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 30-Jun-84 02:24:35 EDT
Lines: 12

#R:noscvax:-52100:haddock:16700022:000:578
haddock!dan    Jun 26 01:42:00 1984

The general rule is that symbolic links are just like additional hard links.
If foo.sl were an additional hard link to a file that already existed under
another name, then 'mv foo.sl foo2' would rename the additional hard link
without otherwise affecting the file, while 'cp foo.sl foo2' would copy
the contents of the file, and 'rm foo.sl' would remove the additional
hard link and leave the file in place under its original name.

The exception to this rule is 'ls', because it's useful for ls's report
to tell you whether you've got a symbolic link in this directory or not.