Re: Patch for "mv -s" option

[Philip Rowlands]

On Fri, 5 Nov 2004, Brendan Byrd/SineSwiper wrote:

>Also, I have a question about how files are moved.  Currently, all files
>are copied to a new diskspace, and then the old diskspace is removed.

Only when the file is moving across filesystem boundaries.

Try this to see how mv usually behaves:
$ strace -e trace=file mv /tmp/foo /tmp/bar

>Why not just create a hardlink (ie: x->hard_link = 1;) and remove that
>link?

Because hard links cannot cross filesystem boundaries :)

$ ln /boot/message /tmp/message
ln: creating hard link `/tmp/message' to `/boot/message': Invalid cross-device 
link


Cheers,
Phil