Clarifying Symbolic Links
-
@scottalanmiller said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
@wirestyle22 said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
@scottalanmiller said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
@wirestyle22 said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
If I am configuring something inside of windows afaik I can't refer to the shortcut of the file, just the file. That is what symbolic links enable you do to do though, correct?
What do you think a shortcut does in Windows?
In windows I can name a shortcut
ianthat is referring tofile1and then when configuring a piece of software that needs to refer to it I can use the shortcut instead of the file?Of course, what did you think a shortcut did? That's the only thing that it does.
I just never considered doing that because why would you? I don't understand the use case
-
@wirestyle22 said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
@scottalanmiller said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
@wirestyle22 said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
@scottalanmiller said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
@wirestyle22 said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
If I am configuring something inside of windows afaik I can't refer to the shortcut of the file, just the file. That is what symbolic links enable you do to do though, correct?
What do you think a shortcut does in Windows?
In windows I can name a shortcut
ianthat is referring tofile1and then when configuring a piece of software that needs to refer to it I can use the shortcut instead of the file?Of course, what did you think a shortcut did? That's the only thing that it does.
I just never considered doing that because why would you? I don't understand the use case
Okay so... let's say you have an application that runs on your server. You have twenty users on the server. Five of those users need to use that application and want it on their desktops so that they can find it. Do you make five copies of that application, one for each user, and store them on their individual desktops?
-
Shortcuts and symlinks should not feel like an "odd niche use case". They are so normal that you probably clicked on a few during the course of this conversation and didn't realize it. Just like apropos is a symbolic link itself. Symlinks are so common and so useful, that you actually would struggle to function without them. Just their creation is often automated, so you don't actually think about it all of the time.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
@wirestyle22 said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
@scottalanmiller said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
@wirestyle22 said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
@scottalanmiller said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
@wirestyle22 said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
If I am configuring something inside of windows afaik I can't refer to the shortcut of the file, just the file. That is what symbolic links enable you do to do though, correct?
What do you think a shortcut does in Windows?
In windows I can name a shortcut
ianthat is referring tofile1and then when configuring a piece of software that needs to refer to it I can use the shortcut instead of the file?Of course, what did you think a shortcut did? That's the only thing that it does.
I just never considered doing that because why would you? I don't understand the use case
Okay so... let's say you have an application that runs on your server. You have twenty users on the server. Five of those users need to use that application and want it on their desktops so that they can find it. Do you make five copies of that application, one for each user, and store them on their individual desktops?
I understand what you're saying, I'm speaking totally in regards to the configuration of a piece of software, not accessing a program.
-
@wirestyle22 said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
I understand what you're saying, I'm speaking totally in regards to the configuration of a piece of software, not accessing a program.
Why pick that one use case?
-
So let's use the config use case. Let's say that there are ten stock configuration files for an application. When run, you have to supply the application with a configuration in order for it to run. You have one hundred users. You might make a symbolic link named ian that points to userdefault6.conf as that's the configuration file you want. The files for betty and monica point to that one, too. But joe, bernard, rebecca and johnstamos all point to userdefault4.conf.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
@wirestyle22 said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
I understand what you're saying, I'm speaking totally in regards to the configuration of a piece of software, not accessing a program.
Why pick that one use case?
I'm trying to understand the use case: Windows vs. Linux. It makes more sense to me to use a shortcut in a GUI, but what is the use case for the CLI?
-
@scottalanmiller said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
So let's use the config use case. Let's say that there are ten stock configuration files for an application. When run, you have to supply the application with a configuration in order for it to run. You have one hundred users. You might make a symbolic link named ian that points to userdefault6.conf as that's the configuration file you want. The files for betty and monica point to that one, too. But joe, bernard, rebecca and johnstamos all point to userdefault4.conf.
Alright, that makes perfect sense. Thank you.
-
@wirestyle22 said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
@scottalanmiller said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
@wirestyle22 said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
I understand what you're saying, I'm speaking totally in regards to the configuration of a piece of software, not accessing a program.
Why pick that one use case?
I'm trying to understand the use case: Windows vs. Linux. It makes more sense to me to use a shortcut in a GUI, but what is the use case for the CLI?
Exactly the same.
-
Perfect timing, this came up in the news thread this morning...
-
Another thought, you will save yourself headaches if you use a full path for the original file. If you just link ian to file1 and later move Ian, it will break. But if you reference the full path for file1, it will work no matter where you move ian.
-
@wirestyle22 said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
@scottalanmiller said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
@wirestyle22 said in Clarifying Symbolic Links:
I understand what you're saying, I'm speaking totally in regards to the configuration of a piece of software, not accessing a program.
Why pick that one use case?
I'm trying to understand the use case: Windows vs. Linux. It makes more sense to me to use a shortcut in a GUI, but what is the use case for the CLI?
Here is a real world example. The corporate IT guys are using something called Useful. It displays images through a zero client attached to a TV. We mounted a share to the server and made a soft link to the directory in the share. Useful looks at the soft link for images and sees whatever is in the share.
