Re: [BUG] Kernel 2.4.0-test1-ac10 changes open of symlink behavior.

From: Rogier Wolff (R.E.Wolff@BitWizard.nl)
Date: Tue Jun 13 2000 - 06:03:45 EST

Alexander Viro wrote:

> Seriously, I think that at the very least we should get something
> along the lines of "portable programs can not rely on creat(2)
> turning dangling symlinks into normal ones" in there.

There are real cases where the current behaviour comes in handy.

Suppose I'm going to run a program that I know is going to create 4
files, 1G each. However I don't have a filesystem available with 4G of
free space.

So:

        ln -s /tmp/file1 .
        ln -s /usr/tmp/file2 .
        ln -s /mnt/bigdisk/tmp/file3 .
        ln -s /mnt/bigdisk/tmp/file4 .

Now the program can simply be run and it will create those 4 files in
the places where I have room for them. Sure, I could go and touch
those files beforehand, but that's just a hassle that is not neccesary
on any other unix, so why should Linux be different?

                                Roger. 

-- 
** R.E.Wolff@BitWizard.nl ** http://www.BitWizard.nl/ ** +31-15-2137555 **
*-- BitWizard writes Linux device drivers for any device you may have! --*
*       Common sense is the collection of                                *
******  prejudices acquired by age eighteen.   -- Albert Einstein ********

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