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From: jas@rtech.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: symbolic links are a botch
Message-ID: <898@rtech.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 11-Jun-87 02:25:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: rtech.898
Posted: Thu Jun 11 02:25:54 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 13-Jun-87 08:53:01 EDT
References: <2629@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com> <390@murphy.UUCP>
Reply-To: jas@rtech.UUCP (Jim Shankland)
Organization: Relational Technology, Alameda CA
Lines: 13

Minor point relating to this discussion:  it's not symbolic links
per se that are a botch, it's allowing links (symbolic or not)
to directories.  As soon as you do that, the file name space changes
from a tree to a dag, so there is no longer a unique path "up" to
the root (i.e., ".." becomes ambiguous).  Regardless who keeps track
of the path you took to a particular node -- shell or kernel -- ".."
may not mean what you want it to mean (didn't somebody mention "../path"
in "#include" directives?)
-- 
Jim Shankland
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                  rtech!jas
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