Subject: RE: b19,20: ln -d - hard links .. ?
From: [email-masked] (Jason Zions)

13 Nov 1998 09:30:44 -0800
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To: "'Alex Madarasz'" <[email-masked]>, [email-masked]

Unfortunately, the NTFS v3 reparse point mechanism is pretty weak (only one
reparse client can intercept a given reparse point) and the "symbolic link"
mechanism does not follow UNIX semantics (when encountering a symbolic link
reparse point on a remote fileserver, the remote server interprets the link
rather than passing the link contents back to the client for local
interpretation).

The limitations on NTFSv3 reparse points are sufficiently severe that they
can't safely be used to provide real UNIX-style symlinks. Very depressing.

Jason

-----Original Message-----
From: Alex P. Madarasz, Jr. [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Thursday, November 12, 1998 3:01 AM

> NTFS supports hard links. The only exposed Win32 interface to them is
> BackupWrite, as you describe.

Until you get to NT5, thankfully, where MS has _finally_ added a Win32 call
for 
hard links, and where reparse points hold the promise of even "better" 
emulation of Unix-like filesystem features.  See the November MSJ :

 <http://www.microsoft.com/msj/1198/NTFS/NTFS.htm>
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