LNDIR(1) X Version 11 (Release 6.6) LNDIR(1)
NAME
lndir - create a shadow directory of symbolic links to
another directory tree
SYNOPSIS
lndir [ -silent ] [ -ignorelinks ] fromdir [ todir ]
DESCRIPTION
The lndir program makes a shadow copy todir of a directory
tree fromdir, except that the shadow is not populated with
real files but instead with symbolic links pointing at the
real files in the fromdir directory tree. This is usually
useful for maintaining source code for different machine
architectures. You create a shadow directory containing
links to the real source, which you will have usually
mounted from a remote machine. You can build in the shadow
tree, and the object files will be in the shadow directory,
while the source files in the shadow directory are just
symlinks to the real files.
This scheme has the advantage that if you update the source,
you need not propagate the change to the other architectures
by hand, since all source in all shadow directories are
symlinks to the real thing: just cd to the shadow directory
and recompile away.
The todir argument is optional and defaults to the current
directory. The fromdir argument may be relative (e.g.,
../src) and is relative to todir (not the current
directory).
Note that RCS, SCCS, CVS and CVS.adm directories are not
shadowed.
If you add files, simply run lndir again. New files will be
silently added. Old files will be checked that they have
the correct link.
Deleting files is a more painful problem; the symlinks will
just point into never never land.
If a file in fromdir is a symbolic link, lndir will make the
same link in todir rather than making a link back to the
(symbolic link) entry in fromdir. The -ignorelinks flag
changes this behavior.
OPTIONS
-silent
Normally lndir outputs the name of each subdirectory as
it descends into it. The -silent option suppresses
these status messages.
Page 1 (printed 7/20/06)
LNDIR(1) X Version 11 (Release 6.6) LNDIR(1)-ignorelinks
Causes the program to not treat symbolic links in
fromdir specially. The link created in todir will
point back to the corresponding (symbolic link) file in
fromdir. If the link is to a directory, this is almost
certainly the wrong thing.
This option exists mostly to emulate the behavior the C
version of lndir had in X11R6. Its use is not
recommended.
DIAGNOSTICS
The program displays the name of each subdirectory it
enters, followed by a colon. The -silent option suppresses
these messages.
A warning message is displayed if the symbolic link cannot
be created. The usual problem is that a regular file of the
same name already exists.
If the link already exists but doesn't point to the correct
file, the program prints the link name and the location
where it does point.
BUGS
The patch program gets upset if it cannot change the files.
You should never run patch from a shadow directory anyway.
You need to use something like
find todir -type l -print | xargs rm
to clear out all files before you can relink (if fromdir
moved, for instance). Something like
find . \! -type d -print
will find all files that are not directories.
Page 2 (printed 7/20/06)
