On Sat, Apr 27, 2002 at 07:32:15PM -0700, faisal gillani wrote: | | what is the diffrence between a symbolic & a hard link ?
One (symlink) is a pointer to the filename. It can point to directories and can cross filesystem boundaries. The other (hard link) is a second name that refers to the same inode. It can't refer to a directory or cross fs boundaries. If you have 2 hard links to an inode, removing one doesn't remove the file. If you have a symlink to another "file" (which is a hard link to an inode), removing the symlink has no effect on the file and removing the file leaves a dangling symlink. Files are stored in inodes with the first being a list of all the successive ones (basically). Directories are inodes that list the names and starting inode of all the files in the directory. This is getting into the details of how a unix filesystem is implemented. Find a good book on fs or OS design and study it :-). -D -- If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. James 1:5-6 GnuPG key : http://dman.ddts.net/~dman/public_key.gpg
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