Forks

Copy-On-Write technology allows us to quickly create virtual copies of deep structures and indeed this capability is used to make instant snapshots of an entire branch. We use the same technology to create copies of Rolons, though the process is more complex.

When we copy a rolon with parents, then the copy does not inherit those parents. On the other hand, the copy will inherit the children and those children will now have an additional parent.

A copy of a wellknown rolon does not inherit the wellknown name.

Any links which a rolon has will be inherited by the copy. But links from other rolons to the copied rolon will remain uneffected.

Links in a rolon to elements in itself will be included in the copy, but will now reference elements in the copy.

Adopting a Copy

Browse has a command, adoptFork rolonPathname, which creates a copy of a rolon and then adds the copy to the list of children of the currently selected rolon.

A Wellknown Copy

There is another Browse command, wellknownFork wellknownName, which copies the currently selected rolon and assigns a wellknown name to the copy.