RE: [PATCH v2] ln: add the --relative option

[Voelker, Bernhard]

address@hidden wrote:

> With the "--relative --symbolic" options, ln computes the relative
> symbolic link for the user.

I also like this idea.

> $ ln -s -v --relative usr/bin/foo usr/lib/foo/link-to-foo
> 'usr/lib/foo/link-to-foo' -> 'foo'
> 
> $ tree ./
> ./
> `-- usr
>     |-- bin
>     |   `-- foo -> ../lib/foo/foo
>     `-- lib
>         `-- foo
>             |-- link-to-foo -> foo
>             `-- foo
> 
> 4 directories, 3 files

In this case, I am be a bit surprised that ln has created
a symlink to the resolved target ('foo') instead of to what
the user told us to do: '../../../bin/foo'.
I'd have expected this only with an additional "resolve" or
"canonicalize" option.

> +  if (relative && !symbolic_link)
> +    {
> +        error (EXIT_FAILURE, 0,
> +               _("cannot do --relative without --symbolic"));
> +    }

Why restrict this to symlinks - it could also be useful for
hardlinks, right?

Have a nice day,
Berny