* Russ Allbery [2011-05-10 09:41 -0700]: > Roger Leigh <rle...@codelibre.net> writes: > > > Section 10.5 states: > > > In general, symbolic links within a top-level directory should be > > relative, and symbolic links pointing from one top-level directory > > into another should be absolute. (A top-level directory is a > > sub-directory of the root directory `/'.) > > ... > > > This is related to #626263. > > With the creation of /run we are making /var/run a symlink to /run > > (and /var/lock a symlink to /run/lock). The question is whether > > these links should be absolute or relative. i.e. should /var/run > > point to /run or ../run? > > It should be absolute: /var is a different top-level directory than /run.
I don't think the policy handles this specific case. This symlink is neither _within_ a top-level directory nor points _into_ one. There are other symlinks that do not fit into any of these two groups, e.g., "lib64 -> /lib/" and "initrd.img -> boot/...". Anyway, I'm neither a native speaker, nor do I think the policy should be read this way, instead the original intention should be considered. As discussed in a subthread[1] on -devel from 1998 (before LVM or bind-mounts existed on Linux) some people partly used symlinks to directories instead of real directories as top-level directories. With such a setup, a relative symlink "/var/run -> ../run" could point to /mnt/foo/run instead of /run. Since symlinks as top-level directories apparently have been supported, symlinks out of an top-level directory needed to be absolute. Somewhat similar is "/usr -> /", but contrary to the above, there would not be a problem with relative links because "/../" is the same real directory as "/". Besides "/usr -> /", are symlinks to directories still supported as top-level directories and are there still people using such a setup? If nobody uses this anymore, the policy could be adapted to the year 2011. Regards Carsten [1] http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/1998/02/msg00590.html -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
