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ln: add details to --help text

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* src/ln.c (usage): Mention more about symlink properties.
* doc/coreutils.texi (ln invocation): Likewise.
* THANKS: Update.
Reported by Vitali Lovich.

Signed-off-by: Eric Blake <ebb9@byu.net>
This commit is contained in:
Eric Blake 2009-02-11 21:09:09 -07:00
parent adc62b5d9f
commit 022889a457
3 changed files with 29 additions and 3 deletions
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1
THANKS
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@ -553,6 +553,7 @@ Uwe H. Steinfeld usteinfeld@gmx.net
Vesselin Atanasov vesselin@bgnet.bg
Vin Shelton acs@alumni.princeton.edu
Vineet Chadha chadha@acis.ufl.edu
Vitali Lovich vlovich@gmail.com
Vitaly A. Ostanin vyt@altlinux.org
Vlada Macek tuttle@bbs.fsik.cvut.cz
Volker Borchert bt@teknon.de

25
doc/coreutils.texi
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@ -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

6
src/ln.c
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@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
/* `ln' program to create links between files.
Copyright (C) 1986, 1989-1991, 1995-2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Copyright (C) 1986, 1989-1991, 1995-2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@ -359,7 +359,9 @@ In the 1st form, create a link to TARGET with the name LINK_NAME.\n\
In the 2nd form, create a link to TARGET in the current directory.\n\
In the 3rd and 4th forms, create links to each TARGET in DIRECTORY.\n\
Create hard links by default, symbolic links with --symbolic.\n\
When creating hard links, each TARGET must exist.\n\
When creating hard links, each TARGET must exist. Symbolic links\n\
can hold arbitrary text; if later resolved, a relative link is\n\
interpreted in relation to its parent directory.\n\
\n\
"), stdout);
fputs (_("\