NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     lndir - create a shadow directory of symbolic links  to  another directory
     tree

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     lndir [-e exceptfile] [-s] [-i] fromdir [todir]

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     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, in addition
  to  any  specified on the command line with -e arguments.

     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 -i flag changes this behavior.

     The options are as follows:

     -e exceptfile
             Add  the  specified  file  to  the  list of excluded
files/directories.
             This is effective in  all  directories  searched  by
lndir.  This option
 may be specified as many times as needed.

     -s       Suppresses status messages normally output as lndir
descends into
             each subdirectory.

     -i      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    [Toc]    [Back]

     The program displays the name of each  subdirectory  it  enters, followed by
     a colon.  The -s 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.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     find(1), ln(1), patch(1)

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     lndir was first distributed as part of X11.

     This version first appeared in OpenBSD 1.2.

BUGS    [Toc]    [Back]

     The  patch(1)  program  gets  upset  if it cannot change the
files.  You
     should never run patch(1) 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.

OpenBSD      3.6                           June      21,     1997