Re: confusing error message from ln

[Paul Eggert]

How about this patch?  I think it addresses all issues raised so far
on this thread.

2005-10-28  Paul Eggert  <address@hidden>

        * src/ln.c (do_link): In diagnostics, don't mention operands when
        we know they did not contribute to the error.

--- src/ln.c.~1.153.~   2005-10-28 15:14:13.000000000 -0700
+++ src/ln.c    2005-10-28 15:36:32.000000000 -0700
@@ -165,6 +165,7 @@ do_link (const char *source, const char 
   struct stat dest_stats;
   char *dest_backup = NULL;
   bool lstat_ok = false;
+  bool source_is_dir = false;
 
   /* Use stat here instead of lstat.
      On SVR4, link does not follow symlinks, so this check disallows
@@ -186,11 +187,15 @@ do_link (const char *source, const char 
                 quote (source));
        }
 
-      if (!hard_dir_link && S_ISDIR (source_stats.st_mode))
+      if (S_ISDIR (source_stats.st_mode))
        {
-         error (0, 0, _("%s: hard link not allowed for directory"),
-                quote (source));
-         return false;
+         source_is_dir = true;
+         if (! hard_dir_link)
+           {
+             error (0, 0, _("%s: hard link not allowed for directory"),
+                    quote (source));
+             return false;
+           }
        }
     }
 
@@ -319,8 +324,15 @@ do_link (const char *source, const char 
 
   error (0, errno,
         (symbolic_link
-         ? _("creating symbolic link %s to %s")
-         : _("creating hard link %s to %s")),
+         ? (errno != ENAMETOOLONG && *source
+            ? _("creating symbolic link %s")
+            : _("creating symbolic link %s to %s"))
+         : (errno == EMLINK && !source_is_dir
+            ? _("creating hard link to %.0s%s")
+            : (errno == EDQUOT || errno == EEXIST || errno == ENOSPC
+               || errno == EROFS)
+            ? _("creating hard link %s")
+            : _("creating hard link %s to %s"))),
         quote_n (0, dest), quote_n (1, source));
 
   if (dest_backup)