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From: ekrell@hector..UUCP (Eduardo Krell)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Symbolic Links
Message-ID: <2912@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com>
Date: Wed, 2-Sep-87 14:29:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: ulysses.2912
Posted: Wed Sep  2 14:29:00 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Sep-87 06:53:24 EDT
References: <8731@brl-adm.ARPA> <2789@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com> <1781@munnari.oz> <2878@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com> <1804@munnari.oz>
Sender: daemon@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com
Reply-To: ekrell@hector (Eduardo Krell)
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Murray Hill
Lines: 41

In article <1804@munnari.oz> kre@munnari.oz (Robert Elz) writes:

>Now, sometime later, I tell you that you can get to /usr/bin
>from /usr/include/sys by just using "cd bin" so you decide to
>try it ...
>
>	cd /sys/h (you're not silly, you know where /usr/include/sys
>		   really lives, and its much less typing)
>	cd bin
>
>and you find yourself in /bin .. not exactly what was promised at all.

2 answers to that:

1. Then it's my fault because I didn't follow your instructions. You told
   me I could get to /usr/bin from /usr/include/sys, not /sys/h

2. When you created the symbolic link, you should have used "/usr/bin"
  instead of "../../bin". Then it would work.

>In the case of ".." the solution is quite simple, leave the path
>interpretation semantics the bsd way, no options, no per user
>interpretation, and simply accept that
>
>	cd /usr/include/sys; cd ..
>
>puts you in /sys (wherever that happens to be) rather than /usr/include.

That's acceptable to you. I think this is broken. At least ksh does
it right.

>If System V can't have symbolic links without changing the semantics,
>then lets just keep System V without symbolic links at all.

I think symbolic links are useful and desirable. The point is we have
an opportunity to do it right this time. We shouldn't miss that
opportunity.
    
    Eduardo Krell                   AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill

    {ihnp4,seismo,ucbvax}!ulysses!ekrell