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> Dropbox’s magic symlink following has always been the anti-pattern Uh, what? Following symlinks is the default behavior for unix programs that requires extr
by theon144 7y ago
> Dropbox’s magic symlink following has always been the anti-pattern
Uh, what?
Following symlinks is the default behavior for unix programs that requires extra effort to work around, why would it be "magic", or an antipattern?
- codetrotter 7y agoIn the context of file archival and synchronization. Just like how when you tar up a directory, the symlinks are stored as symlinks, not as the files they point to.
- theaino 7y agoDropbox was replacing symlinks with the target file or directory tree in synced copies. This obviously breaks legitimate symlinks since the whole point of having the symlink is to have a reference to the target, not another copy of the target. It’s really simple: symlinks are symlinks and should be synced as symlinks. Now they are.