Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 15:51:47 -0800 From: "Jin Guojun [VFFS]" <jinmtb@sbcglobal.net> To: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: command line switch to disable following symlink in DIFF program Message-ID: <439E0D13.8010508@sbcglobal.net>
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Is "diff" program supposed to have a switch at command line to disable
following
(ignore) symbolic links when -r switch is given, like many other
programs do?
In many places, a directory or source file can be symbolically linked
multiple times to
different archives. Since the original source will be diffed anyway, why
"diff" needs to
follow symlinks to compare a same source multiple times?
In the other case, if partition A has a symlink to somewhere in
partition B, which has
a symlink back to partition A , then "diff -r" will loop forever.
I think that "diff" need a switch to disable following symlink to
compare final object,
instead, just check if symlink exists in both checked directories, like
ls -P.
-Jin
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