TLINK(1)							      TLINK(1)

NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     tlink - clone a file tree using symbolic links

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     tlink [-chnprvX] [-dpattern] [-xpattern] source target [path...]

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     Tlink creates a directory tree rooted at target identical to the
     directory tree rooted at source, populating the directories in the	target
     tree with symbolic	links to corresponding files under the source tree.
     If	optional paths are supplied after source and target, only the subtrees
 named by concatenating each path with source	are linked under
     target.

     The -c (clean) option causes tlink	to walk	the target tree	removing any
     directory which lacks a counterpart in the	source tree, any symbolic link
     which does	not name its non-directory counterpart in the source tree, and
     any file which is not a directory or a link.

     The -d option symbolically	links a	directory in the source	tree into the
     corresponding place in the	target tree.  The link's pathname must match
     the regular expression given by pattern.  Regular expressions are as
     described in regcmp(3X).  When used with -c, this option prevents tlink
     from cleaning symbolic links to source directories.

     The -h option creates hard	rather than symbolic links, to conserve	inodes
     and disk blocks in	a filesystem.  A hard-linked tree has the drawback
     that a file linked	in it may become stale (i.e. diverge from its
     prototype source node) if its source is unlinked and recreated, whereas a
     symbolic link to the source always	denotes	the same pathname, whether or
     not the source exists.  This option fails if source and target are
     directories in different filesystems.

     The -n option causes tlink	to operate without actually constructing a
     target tree.  With	this option, tlink will	traverse the source tree,
     formulating pathnames, changing current directory,	and calling stat(2) on
     source files.

     The -p (prune) option causes tlink	to remove symbolic links to nonexistent
 source pathnames from the	target tree.  Prior tlink invocations
     may have created links to source files that no longer exist, and also
     directories containing only links to obsolete source; tlink -p prunes
     such deadwood.

     To	create relative	rather than absolute symbolic links, use the -r
     option.  Tlink relates targets to sources by computing the	path up	from
     each target to the	closest	ancestor directory common to source and
     target, and appending the source path down	from this ancestor.

     The -v (verbose) option prints the	name of	each directory and symbolic
     link created (or removed with the -c option).  If a non-directory file
     exists in the target tree and its source file is a	directory, tlink -v



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TLINK(1)							      TLINK(1)



     prints the	target's pathname and ``Not a directory.''  If a directory in
     the target	tree has a non-directory source, verbose tlink prints the
     target's pathname and ``Is	a directory.''	If a symbolic link in the
     target tree names no existent file, then tlink will attempt to unlink the
     stale link.  Upon successful removal, verbose tlink will print the
     target's pathname and ``No	such file or directory.''

     The -x option adds	pattern	to a list of regular expression	describing
     filenames to be excluded from the tree walk.  The list's initial contents
     are:

	  ^\.{1,2}$
	  ^RCS$
	  ^.*,v$


     If	pattern	contains slashes, then tlink matches full pathnames rather
     than filenames against the	expression.  Specifying	-X eliminates all but
     the first of the above expressions	from the exclusion list.

AUTHOR    [Toc]    [Back]

     Brendan Eich, 01/14/87

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     stat(2), regexp(3X).


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