LinuxQuestions.org - What are links, and how do I use them?

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- - What are links, and how do I use them? (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/what-are-links-and-how-do-i-use-them-147644/)

What are links, and how do I use them?

Just starting out using linux and i'm attempting to learn the core basics of Linux and I do believe that symbolic and hard links come under that category. So I was hoping that someone could explain and/or post an URL to somewhere that does explain. :)

TIA

Symbolic links are kind of like shortcuts in Windows, except they are more 'real'. For example, you can cd (change directory) into a link like it's a real folder. To make symbolic links:
ln -s [file to be linked to] [link]
Remember, File first, Link last.
See this for more info: http://www.hmug.org/man/1/ln.html

And in case, the man page was not clear, ln can also create hard links. If you create a hard link, say from file /dev/null to /home/some-user/null using:
ln /dev/null /home/some-user/null
and then accidentally remove the file /dev/null, that one in your home directory would still work just the same. However:
1) you cant make hard links across different partitions, or harddiskes
2) you cant make hard links from directories.

So i'm wondering, what do most people use symbolic links for? The only time i've used shortcuts in windows is on the desktop...

hmm, well, i use them for pointing libraries in /usr/local/lib to /usr/lib and /lib so the programs that need them work... you could aslo say link a mount such as /mnt/cdrom into /var/ftp/pub/ to give anonymous ftp users access to /mnt/cdrom

I use them so that I can have the same files appear in different places. For instance, I am a habitual Window Manager tester, so I have a rather odd .xinitrc setup. Basically I have a subdirectory called ~/.xscripts. In that directory I have a load of basic scripts that all follow the same basic pattern:

Code:

exec gkrellm&

exec xmms&

exec xbindkeys &

exec Esetroot -stretch ~/files/images/backgrounds/BACKGROUND.IMAGE&

exec galeon -s&

exec root-tail -noinitial -f -g 228x90+5+5 -i 0.1 /var/log/explanations,white /var/log/cron/info,green /var/log/syslog,yellow /var/log/user.log,cyan &

exec cdde&

exec WINDOWMANAGER

Obviously I change the last line. I create a symlink from my current choice to ~/.xscripts/current, and I then create a symlink from that to ~/.xinitrc. So, in short, ~/.xinitrc is a symlink of ~/.xscripts/current is a symlink of ~/.xscripts/sawfish
This is a bit of an odd setup, but it works very well and serves me just the way I want.