Abstract
- It is like hyperlink on the webpage, that links up the components of File System
Hard File System Link
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Pointing to Inode with data
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Must be on the same File System
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Space saving, we can have multiple references to a single set of data without duplicating the data
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Like an additional name for an existing piece of data on disk. Deleting one hard link does not delete the data, as long as other links to that data remain
# Create a hard link to a file:
ln /path/to/file path/to/hardlink- When we create a Hard link on Soft (Symbolic) File System Link, we create a direct link to the existing piece of data on disk, so independent of the soft file system link
Soft (Symbolic) File System Link
- Points to another File by Pathname
- The size is all about the length of the Pathname it stores in Inode
- Broken if the another File is broken
- Across different File System
# To create a symlink:
ln -s <source-location> <symlink-location>
# To symlink, while overwriting existing destination files
ln -sf <source-location> <symlink-location>Can be used to manage dotfiles
Tools like GNU Stow helps to manage dotfiles in one place in an organised manner, and we can version control it with Git. Refer to Stow has forever changed the way I manage my dotfiles for more details
Dangling File System Link
- When Soft (Symbolic) points to an nonexistent file
Useful Commands
realpath
- Display the resolved Hard File System Link for a File or File Directory
realpath path/to/file_or_directory