Re: Adding linux_link(2) system call, second round

[David Holland <dholland-tech%netbsd.org@localhost>]

On Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 07:49:20PM +0200, Emmanuel Dreyfus wrote:
 > Quick summary for the impatient: NetBSD link(2) first resolves symlinks
 > before doing the actual link to the target. As a result, NetBSD link(2)
 > fails on symlinks to directories or to non existent targets.
 > 
 > On the other side, Linux link(2) is dumb and just create a second
 > symlink with the same inode. Therefore it does not care about the
 > symlink target, and will succeed even if it is a directory or if it is
 > nonexistent. 
 > 
 > Both behaviors are standard compliant, since SUSv2 says nothing about
 > resolving symlinks or not. I found at least one program (glusterfs),
 > which assumes the Linux behavior, and is a real pain to fix on NetBSD
 > because of that.

You still haven't explained what glusterfs is doing that's so evil or
why it can't be fixed by having it copy the symlink when that's the
case in question.

I remain not thrilled about adding this, mostly on the grounds that
adding variant functionality with no clear purpose or value tends to
create maintenance hassles in the long run.

-- 
David A. Holland
dholland%netbsd.org@localhost