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Re: convince NTemacs it _can_ symlink
From: |
Eli Zaretskii |
Subject: |
Re: convince NTemacs it _can_ symlink |
Date: |
Tue, 20 Mar 2001 12:14:24 +0200 |
On 20 Mar 2001, Francesco Potorti` wrote:
> Eli Zaretskii:
> I'm not against the change in principle. What I'm saying is that such
> a change should consider all the possible uses of make-symbolic-link,
> and address them.
>
> That's next to say that it should never be changed :-)
No, it isn't. It is to say that I consider this kind of changes to be
anything but trivial.
> Seriously, though, if programs test make-symbolic-link to check for the
> ability to create symbolic links, then that's okay. Only, symbolic
> links can be made on some file systems, not on others.
>
> For example, an Emacs running on a unix-like box can make symbolic links
> on unix-like file systems, cannot make them on mounted vfat filesystems,
> can make them on remote ange-ftp file systems if they run on a unix-like
> box, but not otherwise, so tramp's case is not really diferent from
> cases we already have at hand.
Tramp's case is not different, but the proposed change doesn't affect
tramp alone: it affects the whole of Emacs. In particular, it makes the
code which have never ran on Windows to be executed on that platform.
All I'm saying is that, if we care about our users, we should analyze
the implications of this change and take any preventive actions that follow.
Please understand: I'm not afraid of making Unix-centric code run on
non-Unix platforms. FWIW, I ported many GNU packages to
MS-DOS/MS-Windows, more than I'd like to remember. One of those packages
is GNU Tar, whose port supports hard and symbolic links in the archives,
inode comparison (on systems which don't know what inode is), file-name
handling (wrt the drive-letter braindamage and backslash nuisance), UID
and GID simulation out of thin air, and whatsnot. I have enough gray
hair on my head and in my soul from this and similar experiences to know
better than to consider such changes as simple ones.
Now, you can take this experience or leave it; I don't call the shots in
Emacs development anyway. I'm just telling you that whoever thinks this
is a simple change is mistaken.
I'm not against the change, I'm trying to help those who want it to get
it right.
remote vs local symlinking, Tom_Roche, 2001/03/20