One of the nifty "new" old technologies that Vista brings to the table that haven't been hyped too much is symlinks.
Vista does have several exciting features to blog home about - one of which is the much requested “Symlinks” feature. It’s been in practically every other operating system for the past decade+ and is one of the most essential time-saving devices ever to be implemented.
It’s called mklink (in keeping with the mkdir nomenclature obviously), and it works just as well.
Article: Vista Gets It: Symlinks at Last!
Source: NeoSmart Technologies
| Symlinks on Vista | |
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| Post #1 Nov 5 2006, 09:47 | |
Mostly Harmless...  Group: Registered Posts: 2,258 Joined: 23-April 05 From: The Great Middle East Member No.: 107,016 
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| Post #2 Nov 5 2006, 21:15 | |
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Neowinian³  Group: Banned Posts: 293 Joined: 30-September 03 Member No.: 36,471
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been in NTFS since windows 2K (see hardlinks) big whoop
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| Post #3 Nov 5 2006, 22:20 | |
DAEMON Tools Developer  Group: Registered Posts: 1,519 Joined: 30-March 03 From: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Member No.: 24,849
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Hardlinks don't work across volumes or on directories. There's also junction points, which are like symlinks but only work on directories.
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| Post #4 Nov 6 2006, 23:00 | |
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Mostly Harmless... Group: Registered Posts: 2,258 Joined: 23-April 05 From: The Great Middle East Member No.: 107,016
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Quote - (Lemonzest @ Nov 5 2006, 23:15) [snapback]588019152[/snapback] been in NTFS since windows 2K (see hardlinks) big whoop Someone needs to read up on Symlinks. There's a reason why this is a big deal. Symlinks are a very flexible system, especially when it comes to cross-referencing and simultaneous uses. |
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| Post #5 Nov 7 2006, 04:58 | |
Neowinian  Group: Registered Posts: 18 Joined: 14-September 06 Member No.: 180,561
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Please pardon my ignorance, but I can't think of many uses for Symlinks (I've just read the entry in Wikipedia).
 Any example scenarios? 
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| Post #6 Nov 7 2006, 05:04 | |
Destron. Group: Registered Posts: 3,901 Joined: 20-December 05 From: Australia Member No.: 146,074
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Well in unix/linux a symlink comes in handy.
I have a library called library.so.2 but the program needs the library called library.so.1 I symlink library.so.2 to library.so.1 and works Well thats the kinda thing I had to do to get VLC running 
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| Post #7 Nov 7 2006, 05:06 | |
Neowinian Senior Group: Registered Posts: 2,998 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Montreal, Canada Member No.: 47,139
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Can you make symlinks to Windows shares?
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| Post #8 Nov 7 2006, 05:11 | |
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Neowinian Group: Registered Posts: 18 Joined: 14-September 06 Member No.: 180,561
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Quote - (Un-Dead Soldier @ Nov 6 2006, 23:04) [snapback]588023555[/snapback] I symlink library.so.2 to library.so.1 and works Well, couldn't you just rename the file? It would be useful just if you need the same file on different places and/or names then. 
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| Post #9 Nov 7 2006, 05:19 | |
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Destron. Group: Registered Posts: 3,901 Joined: 20-December 05 From: Australia Member No.: 146,074
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Why would you want to rename it?... Other programs will need to use the library.so.2 file... and copying would waste precious HDD space
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