Re: Feature Request: make sane symlinks on remote host.

[Steve Youngs]

|--==> "KG" == Kai Gro <address@hidden> writes:

  KG> Steve Youngs <address@hidden> writes:
  >>No, not at all.  I want...
  >>
  >>C-x C-f /address@hidden  (to get a dired listing of jrl's $HOME on frumple)
  >>M-x eshell
  >>(make-symbolic-link "/path/to/file1" "/path/to/file2")
  >>
  >>Where "file1" and "file2" are _both_ on frumple.

  KG> I see.  Now I understand your request.  But I don't like it :-)
  KG> That would mean that the behavior of make-symbolic-link should depend
  KG> on the variable default-directory.  No, this is not a good idea, I
  KG> think.

  KG> My suggestion is to interpret the source of the link (ie, LINKNAME,
  KG> the second arg of make-symbolic-link) as a filename and to interpret
  KG> the target of the link (ie, FILENAME, the first arg) as a string.

Hey, whoa, that's not right, you've got the args the wrong way
around... 

,----[ C-h f make-symbolic-link RET ]
| `make-symbolic-link' is an interactive built-in function
| (make-symbolic-link FILENAME LINKNAME &optional OK-IF-ALREADY-EXISTS)
| 
| Documentation:
| Make a symbolic link to FILENAME, named LINKNAME.  Both args strings.
| Signals a `file-already-exists' error if a file LINKNAME already exists
| unless optional third argument OK-IF-ALREADY-EXISTS is non-nil.
| A number as third arg means request confirmation if LINKNAME already exists.
| This happens for interactive use with M-x.
`----


  KG> This way, you can say (make-symbolic-link "xyzzy"
  KG> "/address@hidden/path/to/file") and it will always create a symlink
  KG> on host, regardless of default-directory.

So this should be...

(make-symbolic-link "/address@hidden/path/to/file" "xyzzy")

And default-directory _should_ play a part for at least two reasons:

        1) Making a "relative" symbolic link.

        2) A symlink should _never_ span different hosts.

IMO, what should happen in the above example is:

        Tramp should connect to host if not already connected, setting
        default-directory to '/address@hidden/path/to/' if not connected,
        or './' if already connected.  Then test to see if the OS on
        host supports symlinks (signalling the appropriate error if
        not).  Do the normal 'make-symbolic-link' checks.  Strip off
        any Tramp filename parts (the "/[...]" bit) and write the
        symlink to disc.

So that would make the correct syntax:

        (make-symbolic-link "/[method/address@hidden/path/to/filename"
                            "/path/to/symlink-name")

And I'd be very happy with that. :-)


-- 
|---<Steve Youngs>---------------<GnuPG KeyID: 10D5C9C5>---|
|            XEmacs - It's not just an editor.             |
|                    It's a way of life.                   |
|------------------------------------<address@hidden>---|