[TSVN] Re: symbolic links - unix to unix via Tortoise

"Mark Richards" <mark.richards@massmicro.com> writes:

> Jens,
>
> >>Windows has no notion of "unix files". So no, there's no way for TSVN
> knowing it is talking to unix.
>
> My understanding is that a windows symbolic link is a file with a special
> bit set to indicate to the O/S how it should be dealt with.

No, shortcuts are files ending with .lnk and applications have to handle them
specially as "exploder" does.

> If the file attributes (including this bit) cannot be read by Tortoise, that
> seems to me bad news.

No bit is involved.

> If these attributes are not available through DAV,
> that's worse. It's clear to me (now!) that Samba doesn't do this task when
> working through the windows "exploder" because exploder wasn't designed to
> handle these attributes.

Right. Explorer has no notion of symbolic links.

> However I'm uncertain if Samba is even used when
> SVN is accessed using Tortoise through the web interface.

Surely not, TSVN uses WebDAV or it's own protocol.

> Besides, if the
> Tortoise Repository Browser and other extensions are built from the ground
> up, isn't it possible to accommodate symbolic links?
>
> If the attribute bit is readable, is there a programming or other issue that
> prevents Tortoise from handling these files?
>

The problem doesn't reside on the svn side, but on the windows/samba
side: How do you tell a filesystem layer to create a symbolic link, if
it does not know symbolic links?

Read up:
http://www.pearlmagik.com/winbolic/
and notice the fine distinction between symbolic links, short cuts, shell links
and junctions.

In addition some of these advanced features only work on NTFS
filesystems, the other way round as on unix, and so on.

So please appreciate that the svn developers do not want to surrender
to this portability nightmare.

/me wondering: windows is posix compatible, isn't it? Aren't symbolic
links posix? Shouldn't there exist an API to create symbolic links?
I bet it's an optional feature or only implemented in SFU (see below).

See also:

PearlMagik.com - Winbolic Link
http://www.pearlmagik.com/winbolic/

Google Answers: how to create a symbolic link under Win2K, WinXP, and above?
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=341355

Microsoft's Services For Unix
http://aplawrence.com/Reviews/sfu.html

Windows Services for Unix Home
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/sfu/default.mspx

File and Directory Linking
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/fileio/fs/file_and_directory_linking.asp

Symbolic Link On Windows
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?SymbolicLinkOnWindows

> Perhaps users who would like to use Tortoise SVN as a fully-featured front
> end to SVN for Linux development would be willing to set a configuration
> switch that says:
>
> [ ] Repository = unix
> [ ] Target = unix

If you want that feature please be so kind to program it yourself.

Jens

-- 
Jens.Scheidtmann@bayerbbs.com
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