Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!bbn!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!rice!sun-spots-request From: ultra!norm@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Norm Finn) Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun Subject: Re: PC-NFS question: symbolic link resolution Message-ID: <8902150306.AA05157@romeo.ultra.com> Date: 28 Feb 89 07:24:33 GMT Sender: usenet@rice.edu Organization: Sun-Spots Lines: 34 Approved: Sun-Spots@rice.edu Original-Date: Tue, 14 Feb 89 19:06:48 PST X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 7, Issue 170, message 11 of 12 When you mount a directory on the PC, you use a command like: C:> net use e: \\solar\u2 to mount Solar's directory /u2 on PC drive E. A PC has a root directory on every drive; drives are NOT mounted like in Unix, with additional drives looking like subdirectories on a master directory tree. Solar's directory /u2/fred/sources is known as E:\FRED\SOURCES to the PC. A symbolic reference to /u2/sam/bin causes the PC to look on drive E for \U2\SAM\BIN, which is not present. If you mount Solar's root partition on the PC's E drive, then there is no problem, because E's root partition is the same directory as the Unix root partition. This is not to say that PC-NFS cannot follow links or that you must mount the root partition, however. A symbolic link in /u2/fred/sources to the directory "../../sam/bin" is a perfecly valid link to /u2/sam/bin and perfectly well understood by both PC and by Unix, because both can track down the ".." chain. As long as the string of "../"s doesn't stretch up over the top of the point at which the tree is mounted on the PC (in this case, above /u2 to /), then both PC-NFS and Unix can follow the link. PC-NFS seems to ignore symbolic links it cannot resolve. That's why you don't see them from the PC. Resolvable symbolic links are resolved and the target displayed as if it were a normal file. NOTE: This information has been gained from experience in using PC-NFS, not from reading the source code or even the manuals, so if someone on the net knows better, feel free to correct me. Norm Finn domain: norm@ultra.com Ultra Network Technologies Internet: ultra!norm@ames.arc.nasa.gov 101 Daggett Dr. uucp: ...ames!ultra!norm San Jose, CA 95134 (408) 922-0100