Re: Function to find symlink target

[Jean Louis]

* Emanuel Berg <incal@dataswamp.org> [2022-06-02 03:44]:
> This is the same use case that has been mentioned several
> times by now! Maybe that's the only things symlinks are
> good for?

Maybe you have been following your "rule" to avoid symlinks without
researching what you can do with symlinks.

Main use for symlinks on a GNU system is in libraries' directories:

  lrwxrwxrwx   1    11 May 16  2020 aspell -> aspell-0.60
  lrwxrwxrwx   1    17 Apr 28 12:55 terminfo -> ../share/terminfo
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   22 Mar 25  2021 libauthcustom.so -> libauthcustom.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   22 Mar 25  2021 libauthcustom.so.0 -> libauthcustom.so.0.0.0
  -rwxr-xr-x 1  14K Mar 25  2021 libauthcustom.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   20 Mar 25  2021 libauthldap.so -> libauthldap.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   20 Mar 25  2021 libauthldap.so.0 -> libauthldap.so.0.0.0
  -rwxr-xr-x 1  87K Mar 25  2021 libauthldap.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   21 Mar 25  2021 libauthmysql.so -> libauthmysql.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   21 Mar 25  2021 libauthmysql.so.0 -> libauthmysql.so.0.0.0
  -rwxr-xr-x 1  75K Mar 25  2021 libauthmysql.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   19 Mar 25  2021 libauthpam.so -> libauthpam.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   19 Mar 25  2021 libauthpam.so.0 -> libauthpam.so.0.0.0
  -rwxr-xr-x 1  14K Mar 25  2021 libauthpam.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   21 Mar 25  2021 libauthpgsql.so -> libauthpgsql.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   21 Mar 25  2021 libauthpgsql.so.0 -> libauthpgsql.so.0.0.0
  -rwxr-xr-x 1  63K Mar 25  2021 libauthpgsql.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   20 Mar 25  2021 libauthpipe.so -> libauthpipe.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   20 Mar 25  2021 libauthpipe.so.0 -> libauthpipe.so.0.0.0
  -rwxr-xr-x 1  14K Mar 25  2021 libauthpipe.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   19 Mar 25  2021 libauthpwd.so -> libauthpwd.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   19 Mar 25  2021 libauthpwd.so.0 -> libauthpwd.so.0.0.0
  -rwxr-xr-x 1  14K Mar 25  2021 libauthpwd.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   22 Mar 25  2021 libauthshadow.so -> libauthshadow.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   22 Mar 25  2021 libauthshadow.so.0 -> libauthshadow.so.0.0.0
  -rwxr-xr-x 1  14K Mar 25  2021 libauthshadow.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   22 Mar 25  2021 libauthsqlite.so -> libauthsqlite.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   22 Mar 25  2021 libauthsqlite.so.0 -> libauthsqlite.so.0.0.0
  -rwxr-xr-x 1  55K Mar 25  2021 libauthsqlite.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   22 Mar 25  2021 libauthuserdb.so -> libauthuserdb.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   22 Mar 25  2021 libauthuserdb.so.0 -> libauthuserdb.so.0.0.0
  -rwxr-xr-x 1  30K Mar 25  2021 libauthuserdb.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   29 Mar 25  2021 libcourierauthcommon.so -> 
libcourierauthcommon.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   29 Mar 25  2021 libcourierauthcommon.so.0 -> 
libcourierauthcommon.so.0.0.0
  -rwxr-xr-x 1  42K Mar 25  2021 libcourierauthcommon.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   33 Mar 25  2021 libcourierauthsaslclient.so -> 
libcourierauthsaslclient.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   33 Mar 25  2021 libcourierauthsaslclient.so.0 -> 
libcourierauthsaslclient.so.0.0.0
  -rwxr-xr-x 1  14K Mar 25  2021 libcourierauthsaslclient.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   27 Mar 25  2021 libcourierauthsasl.so -> 
libcourierauthsasl.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   27 Mar 25  2021 libcourierauthsasl.so.0 -> 
libcourierauthsasl.so.0.0.0
  -rwxr-xr-x 1  14K Mar 25  2021 libcourierauthsasl.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   23 Mar 25  2021 libcourierauth.so -> libcourierauth.so.0.0.0
  lrwxrwxrwx 1   23 Mar 25  2021 libcourierauth.so.0 -> libcourierauth.so.0.0.0

However, I can't tell how is that system managed, it apparently works
fine without my user's intervention.

Here are more practical example on finding files easier in file system
by using symlinks for tagging:

What's a good solution for file-tagging in linux? - Super User
https://superuser.com/questions/81563/whats-a-good-solution-for-file-tagging-in-linux

Another interesting file tagging system:

TMSU
https://tmsu.org/




-- 
Jean

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