[NTLUG:Discuss] symbolic links

[Fred James]

Eric Schnoebelen wrote:

>"Darin W. Smith" writes:
>- As long as it is a *symbolic* link, rm will just remove the link
>- (don't do that on hard links though, because a hard link is really
>- the original file)
>
>	Actually, even as a hard link, rm(1) will just remove
>that name for the file.
>
>	When the last link to the file is removed, then the file's
>space is deallocated, and the inode removed.
>
>	So, if you have a file with multiple hard links (the
>space efficent way to do it) the file will remain as long as one
>hard link exists.
>
>--
>Eric Schnoebelen		eric at cirr.com		http://www.cirr.com
>	    Ignorant people in preppy clothes are more dangerous
>	      to America than oil embargos.  -- V. S. Naipaul
>
>_______________________________________________
>https://ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>
>
>  
>
My understanding of links - please correct me were I may stray - and a 
question, please:
(1) When creating a link, no new file is created.
     (a) "hardlinkname" is only an alias for the same inode as the 
original file.
     (b) "symboliclinkname" (sometimes called "soft link") points to the 
original inode, and has its own inode.
     (c) The "space savings" of a hard link is that it has no inode of 
its own.
(2) Soft links can remain after the original file is deleted, and 
therefore point to nothing
     (b) Can hard links do the same?
Thanks in advance.

-- 
"It's not nice to fool Mother OS." --anonymous