diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/coreutils.texi')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/coreutils.texi | 25 |
1 files changed, 24 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/doc/coreutils.texi b/doc/coreutils.texi index c3a116470..57497e960 100644 --- a/doc/coreutils.texi +++ b/doc/coreutils.texi @@ -8689,9 +8689,32 @@ refers to a different file, by name. When most operations (opening, reading, writing, and so on) are passed the symbolic link file, the kernel automatically @dfn{dereferences} the link and operates on the target of the link. But some operations (e.g., removing) work on the -link file itself, rather than on its target. @xref{Symbolic Links,,, +link file itself, rather than on its target. The owner, group, and +mode of a symlink are not significant to file access performed through +the link. @xref{Symbolic Links,,, libc, The GNU C Library Reference Manual}. +Symbolic links can contain arbitrary strings; a @dfn{dangling symlink} +occurs when the string in the symlink does not resolve to a file. +There are no restrictions against creating dangling symbolic links. +There are trade-offs to using absolute or relative symlinks. An +absolute symlink always points to the same file, even if the directory +containing the link is moved. However, if the symlink is visible from +more than one machine (such as on a networked file system), the file +pointed to might not always be the same. A relative symbolic link is +resolved in relation to the directory that contains the link, and is +often useful in referring to files on the same device without regards +to what name that device is mounted on when accessed via networked +machines. + +When creating a relative symlink in a different location than the +current directory, the resolution of the symlink will be different +than the resolution of the same string from the current directory. +Therefore, many users prefer to first change directories to the +location where the relative symlink will be created, so that +tab-completion or other file resolution will find the same target as +what will be placed in the symlink. + The program accepts the following options. Also see @ref{Common options}. @table @samp |