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Date: Thu, 02 May 2002 10:46:38 -0400
To: <fergus AT bonhard DOT uklinux DOT net>, <cygwin AT cygwin DOT com>
From: "Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc)" <lhall AT rfk DOT com>
Subject: RE: using Windows links
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At 03:23 AM 5/2/2002, fergus AT bonhard DOT uklinux DOT net wrote:
>If it helps anybody, which it might not : in the entire Cygwin provision
>there are I think a dozen *.lnk files. I found that 5 of them induced
>objections from Norton ("invalid shortcuts"). As was pointed out to me on
>this list, this is a Windows/Norton glitch, not a Cygwin glitch ... but it
>bugged me all the same. Also other people have reported problems with *.lnk
>files (either their creation or interpretation). So, on my system, I have
>rewritten all filename.lnk files as one-line textfiles of the form
>
>     !<symlink>target_
>
>where !<symlink> is as written; target is the target of the original link;
>the final character is not actually _ as shown but ASCII 00. There is no
>closing <LF>. Then rename filename.lnk simply as filename; remove R
>attribute; add S attribute; and that's it. At the cost of some minor editing
>effort, Norton is silenced, Windows can't see any things it even thinks are
>Windows shortcuts, and Cygwin works as well as ever. Fergus


Wow!  That seems like the hard way around.  I don't mean to rain on your
parade or anything but there's really no reason to get into this level of
detail and complexity if this is the kind of change you want to make.  
Essentially what you did is recreate the shortcut as the original format of
Cygwin symlinks.  This format was in use until the default implementation
changed to make use of shortcuts for this purpose instead.  The original
format can still be used (as you determined) but you can tell Cygwin to 
create them for you with "ln -s".  See 
http://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/using-cygwinenv.html and the nowinsymlinks
option.  Set it, delete the Windows shortcuts you want as Cygwin symlinks,
and recreate them with "ln -s".  Voila!  Your job is done.  No messy editing.
No need to understand strange file formats.  Nothing!  Keep in mind that 
these symlinks are not understood by non-Cygwin programs.

Ah, documentation.  You gotta love it! ;-)



Larry Hall                              lhall AT rfk DOT com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      http://www.rfk.com
838 Washington Street                   (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
Holliston, MA 01746                     (508) 893-9889 - FAX


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