From owner-freebsd-current Fri Jun 15 6:31:21 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from bunrab.catwhisker.org (adsl-63-193-123-122.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net [63.193.123.122]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D82BD37B401 for ; Fri, 15 Jun 2001 06:31:17 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from david@catwhisker.org) Received: (from david@localhost) by bunrab.catwhisker.org (8.10.0/8.10.0) id f5FDVCo94946 for current@freebsd.org; Fri, 15 Jun 2001 06:31:12 -0700 (PDT) Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 06:31:12 -0700 (PDT) From: David Wolfskill Message-Id: <200106151331.f5FDVCo94946@bunrab.catwhisker.org> To: current@freebsd.org Subject: symlink(2) [Was: Re: tcsh.cat] In-Reply-To: Sender: owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG >Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 22:57:56 +1000 (EST) >From: Bruce Evans >> Maybe we need to fix symlink(2) then ? >Maybe, but this doesn't seem to be permitted by POSIX.1-200x: >P> int symlink(const char *path1, const char *path2); >P> ... >P> The string pointed to by path1 shall be treated only as a character >P> string and shall not be validated as a pathname. >symlink.2 is fuzzier and can be read as reqiring that the first arg is >a (valid) "path name". >B> int >B> symlink(const char *name1, const char *name2); >B> ... >B> A symbolic link name2 is created to name1 (name2 is the name of the file >B> created, name1 is the string used in creating the symbolic link). Either >B> name may be an arbitrary path name; the files need not be on the same >B> file system. Indeed: it is my understanding that the "path name" interpretation is an issue at the time of reference, not (necessarily) the time of creation. It has, to the best of my knowledge, been valid to create a symlink prior to a point when its target exists. One may well argue that this is "broken" in some way(s). Still, changing it at this point could well be considered a POLA violation, at best. Cheers, david -- David H. Wolfskill david@catwhisker.org As a computing professional, I believe it would be unethical for me to advise, recommend, or support the use (save possibly for personal amusement) of any product that is or depends on any Microsoft product. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message