Re: [rox-devel] Bug in copying a symlink?

[Diego Z. <za...@ce...>]

vi...@vi... said:
> I agree. A "copy" operation is an operation on the contents of a file.
> But how about a "move" operation? Sometimes it a hard link + unlink
> (and no need to read the file) and sometimes a copy + unlink. How
> should it behave on a symlink? 

I think the behavior should be the same as that of cp and mv. Cp always copies 
the contents of the file, and mv moves the file as is. Even across 
filesystems, mv'ing a symlink will re-create the symlink exactly as it was, 
even if its new location it results in a broken symlink.

It's all a matter of expected behavior. Most Unix users are used to the 
behavior of cp and mv, and that's why I think those operations under ROX-Filer 
should behave similarly. Otherwise, disaster can occur: what if I "copy" a 
symlink, resulting in another symlink, and I don't notice it and make changes 
to the copy, thinking that my original is safe? I know there's no excuse for 
being careless, but when you change expected behavior, these things can happen.

--Diego