From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Mar 16 15:22:17 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 00F07106564A for ; Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:22:17 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jalmberg@identry.com) Received: from mx1.identry.com (on.identry.com [66.111.0.194]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 907BE8FC12 for ; Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:22:16 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jalmberg@identry.com) Received: (qmail 40439 invoked by uid 89); 16 Mar 2009 15:22:39 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO ?192.168.1.110?) (jalmberg@75.127.142.66) by mx1.identry.com with ESMTPA; 16 Mar 2009 15:22:38 -0000 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v753.1) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org From: John Almberg Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:22:13 -0400 X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.753.1) Subject: links vs real directories X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:22:17 -0000 I always thought that links to real directories were pretty much the same as real directories, but I've just discovered a situation where they are not and I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong... I have a Ruby on Rails application running on a FreeBSD server. All Rails apps use the same directory structure, that consists of an application directory, plus a number of subdirectories. One of these sub directories is called 'config'. I would like to move this config directory out of the main Rails app directory, and then add a link from the app directory to the moved config directory. so: app --> config will become app --> config(link) --> config Basically, what I'm doing is: cd ~/app # now in directory with real 'config' dir mv config ~/shared/config ln -s ~/shared/config config That moves the directory and creates a functional link to it (I tested it), but Rails doesn't like it and refuses to run the app. The permissions are correct, I believe: [master@on:current]> ls -l total 34 ... snip ... drwxrwxr-x 3 master master 512 Mar 16 11:06 bin drwxrwxr-x 3 master master 512 Mar 16 11:06 components lrwxr-xr-x 1 master master 26 Mar 16 11:07 config -> /home/ master/shared/config drwxr-xr-x 4 master master 512 Mar 16 11:06 db etc... So, I guess a link is NOT exactly equivalent to a directory. At least not the way I am doing it. I'm guessing I'm making a real newbie mistake, so if anyone can set me straight, I'd appreciate it. Thank: John