05-23-2008
Normally, when tar archives a symbolic link, it writes a record to the archive naming the target of the link. In that way, the tar archive is a faithful record of the filesystem contents. `--dereference' (`-h') is used with `--create' (`-c'), and causes tar to archive the files symbolic links point to, instead of the links themselves. When this option is used, when tar encounters a symbolic link, it will archive the linked-to file, instead of simply recording the presence of a symbolic link.
The name under which the file is stored in the file system is not recorded in the archive. To record both the symbolic link name and the file name in the system, archive the file under both names. If all links were recorded automatically by tar, an extracted file might be linked to a file name that no longer exists in the file system.
If a linked-to file is encountered again by tar while creating the same archive, an entire second copy of it will be stored. (This might be considered a bug.)
So, for portable archives, do not archive symbolic links as such, and use `--dereference' (`-h'): many systems do not support symbolic links, and moreover, your distribution might be unusable if it contains unresolved symbolic links.
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ln(1) General Commands Manual ln(1)
Name
ln - link to a file
Syntax
ln [ -f ] [ -i ] [ -s ] name1 [name2]
ln [ -f ] [ -i ] [ -s ] name ... directory
Description
A link is a directory entry referring to a file. A file, together with its size and all its protection information may have several links
to it. There are two kinds of links: hard links and symbolic links.
By default makes hard links. A hard link to a file is indistinguishable from the original directory entry. Any changes to a file are
effective independent of the name used to reference the file. Hard links may not span file systems and may not refer to directories.
Given one or two arguments, creates a link to an existing file name1. If name2 is given, the link has that name. The name2 may also be a
directory in which to place the link. Otherwise it is placed in the current directory. If only the directory is specified, the link is
made to the last component of name1.
Given more than two arguments, makes links to all the named files in the named directory. The links made have the same name as the files
being linked to.
Options
-f Forces existing destination pathnames to be removed before linking without prompting for confirmation.
-i Write a prompt to standard output requesting information for each link that would overwrite an existing file. If the response from
standard input is affirmative, and if permissions allow, the link is done. The -i option has this effect even if the standard input is
not a terminal.
-s Creates a symbolic link.
A symbolic link contains the name of the file to which it is linked. The referenced file is used when an operation is performed on
the link. A on a symbolic link returns the linked-to file. An must be done to obtain information about the link. The call may be
used to read the contents of a symbolic link. Symbolic links may span file systems and may refer to directories.
See Also
cp(1), mv(1), rm(1), link(2), readlink(2), stat(2), symlink(2)
ln(1)