What's the purpose of links in a filesystem that go nowhere?

ayteebee · 09-08-2006, 04:37 PM

I noticed a link in my /boot directory that doesn't seem to go anywhere:

Code:

andy@op3n:~> ls -l /boot
total 6025
-rw-r--r--  1 root root     512 2004-10-01 21:47 backup_mbr
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root       1 2004-10-01 21:32 boot -> .
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   55495 2005-12-01 18:54 config-2.6.5-7.202.7-smp
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root     480 2004-10-30 12:59 grub
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      24 2005-12-26 12:41 initrd -> initrd-2.6.5-7.202.7-smp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1375746 2005-12-26 12:41 initrd-2.6.5-7.202.7-smp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  125492 2005-12-01 18:54 Kerntypes-2.6.5-7.202.7-smp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   84480 2004-07-20 18:46 message
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   81991 2005-12-01 18:55 symvers-2.6.5-7.202.7-i386-smp.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  790599 2005-12-01 18:47 System.map-2.6.5-7.202.7-smp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1959006 2005-12-01 18:54 vmlinux-2.6.5-7.202.7-smp.gz
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      25 2005-12-26 12:41 vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-2.6.5-7.202.7-smp
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1670179 2005-12-01 18:47 vmlinuz-2.6.5-7.202.7-smp
andy@op3n:~> cd /boot
andy@op3n:/boot> cd boot
andy@op3n:/boot/boot> cd boot
andy@op3n:/boot/boot/boot> cd boot
andy@op3n:/boot/boot/boot/boot> cd boot
andy@op3n:/boot/boot/boot/boot/boot> cd boot

I mean, WTF's this all about?

Why is there a link that doesn't go anywhere? Can I delete it? Not that I need to, but you know...

vls · 09-08-2006, 06:12 PM

Apparently it isn't the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I'd delete it but you might want to wait for answers from Suse gurus. Something somewhere might actually make use of it.

homey · 09-08-2006, 06:15 PM

I wouldn't be too quick to remove it!
Seems to be a Suse thingy as I see it in my 10.1 version.
Also noticed it is near time to backup_mbr in my box too.

reddazz · 09-08-2006, 06:19 PM

There is a perfectly good reason for those symlinks, but I can't remember what it is.

homey · 09-08-2006, 06:30 PM

That reminds me of the question...

How do you keep a blonde in suspense?

hpladd · 09-08-2006, 07:29 PM

Anybody else ever get a "Symbolic link to nowhere" error message? Now that's mystical.

homey · 09-08-2006, 07:54 PM

The OP didn't say anything about an error message ....

Quote:

I noticed a link in my /boot directory that doesn't seem to go anywhere:

and as I mentioned, seems to be related to the backup_mbr which is likely to be used if you want to restore the mbr. If I recall, that is a feature in the YAST control center.

Emerson · 09-08-2006, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ayteebee

andy@op3n:~> cd /boot
andy@op3n:/boot> cd boot
andy@op3n:/boot/boot> cd boot
andy@op3n:/boot/boot/boot> cd boot
andy@op3n:/boot/boot/boot/boot> cd boot
andy@op3n:/boot/boot/boot/boot/boot> cd boot

I mean, WTF's this all about?

Yep, you are screwed. You'll never get out of this.

This symlink is needed if there is separate boot partition. Then GRUB can still find the kernel in /boot/somekernel. You can't say it leads nowhere, it leads to same directory with /boot added on path.