The kernel transparently operates on the file at that path when system calls That the inode and directory entries all reside on the same filesystem.īy contrast, symlinks contain another path as data, and Unix systems allow multiple links to any file, but require A hard link is simply the connection betweenĪ directory entry and the inode for the file (or directory) to which thatĮntry refers. To the original Unix filesystem API unlike symlinks, though, they are notĭangerous, and are, in fact, easy to use. The problems posed by symlinks led to substantial increases in theĬomplexity of the APIs involved in working with pathnames.Īllison explained that hard links were the first 'interesting addition' He started his talk with the problems that symbolic linksĬause for application developers, then discussed how the solutions to
Profoundly broken: What to do about it?'. Jeremy Allison gave a talk titled 'The UNIX Filesystem API is
This article was contributed by Chris Riddoch
