From owner-freebsd-questions Tue Oct 8 15:14:53 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4EB7537B401 for ; Tue, 8 Oct 2002 15:14:52 -0700 (PDT) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (lurza.secnetix.de [212.66.1.130]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 59DC243E6E for ; Tue, 8 Oct 2002 15:14:51 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from olli@lurza.secnetix.de) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.12.5/8.12.5) with ESMTP id g98MEnmC064065 for ; Wed, 9 Oct 2002 00:14:50 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from oliver.fromme@secnetix.de) Received: (from olli@localhost) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.12.5/8.12.5/Submit) id g98MEngt064064; Wed, 9 Oct 2002 00:14:49 +0200 (CEST) Date: Wed, 9 Oct 2002 00:14:49 +0200 (CEST) Message-Id: <200210082214.g98MEngt064064@lurza.secnetix.de> From: Oliver Fromme To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Reply-To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: help with ln "linking" Please! [attn manpage authors!] In-Reply-To: X-Newsgroups: list.freebsd-questions User-Agent: tin/1.5.4-20000523 ("1959") (UNIX) (FreeBSD/4.6-STABLE (i386)) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG Gary W. Swearingen wrote: > > How about this: ln [-fhinsv] source_filename [link_filename] FWIW, the source doesn't have to be a file at all, in the case of symbolic links. I think the correct term is "link target" in that case -- that's how it is called in the standards (POSIX, SUSvX etc.). Maybe the manpage should differentiate those two cases, like this: ln [-fhinv] existing_filename [another_filename] ln -s [-fhinv] symlink_target [symlink_name] That would be completely clear, IMO. Although maybe a bit too verbose. Personally, I memorize it like this: The order of arguments to ln is the same as that of mv or cp -- the existing file comes first (OK, in the case of symlinks it doesn't really have to exist), and the new thing comes last. Regards Oliver -- Oliver Fromme, secnetix GmbH & Co KG, Oettingenstr. 2, 80538 München Any opinions expressed in this message may be personal to the author and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of secnetix in any way. "All that we see or seem is just a dream within a dream" (E. A. Poe) To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message