Re: confusing error message from ln

[Bob Proulx]

Elan Ruusamäe wrote:
> commands used to compose this email:
> $  LC_ALL=et_EE ln -s /inexistent1/path1 /inexistent2/path2
> $ LC_ALL=C ln -s /inexistent1/path1 /inexistent2/path2
> ...
> suggested change:
> ...
> or remove the symlink destination from error message:
> ln: creating symbolic link `/inexistent2/path2': No such file or directory
> 
> as it's really irrelevant where the created symlink points, ie it can't be 
> reason of error message.

I like this suggestion of yours.  I agree that the symlink value
cannot be a source of error.  And symlinks have often been confusing
to people.

I would like to see 'ln' match the existing 'cp' and 'mv' error messages.

  touch foo
  cp foo /nonexistent/path
  cp: cannot create regular file `/nonexistent/path': No such file or directory

  mv foo /nonexistent/path
  mv: cannot move `foo' to `/nonexistent/path': No such file or directory

Therefore 'ln' would match with this:

  ln foo /nonexistent/path
  ln: cannot create hard link `/nonexistent/path': No such file or directory

  ln -s foo /nonexistent/path
  ln: cannot create symbolic link `/nonexistent/path': No such file or directory

It generally improves the consistency of the error messages.

Thanks
Bob