[PATCH] cp --no-derefence --link assumes a Linux kernel

[Aurelien Jarno]

Hi all,

POSIX.1-2001 says that link() should dereference symlinks. The Linux
kernel does not follow POSIX, so that calling cp with --no-dereference
and --link works as expected. However on non-Linux kernel, this does not
work as expected, the symlinks being dereferenced. This is even worse
with symlinks pointing to non-existing paths, where contrary to Linux,
cp fails in such cases.

I suggest to make regular copy of the symlink in such cases, to increase
portability of shell scripts. This is the purpose of the attached patch.

Regards,
Aurelien

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  .''`.  Aurelien Jarno             | GPG: 1024D/F1BCDB73
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coreutils_cp_link_posix.patch
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