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Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 01:54:44 -0500
From: "Peter C. Lai" <sirmoo@cowbert.2y.net>
To: freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org, chu@gpi.ru
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Subject: Re: docs/40196: man find does not describe -follow
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find(1) has the -follow option historically on SysV and Solaris.

In IRIX 6.5, the find(1) manpage says: 

-follow		Always true; causes the underlying file of a symbolic link to 
		be checked rather than the symbolic link itself.

In GNU find(1), the manpage says:

-follow		Dereference symbolic links...

In Solaris 8+ find(1), the manpage says:

-follow		Always true; causes symbolic  links  to  be  followed.
		When following symbolic links, find keeps track of the
		directories visited so that  it  can  detect  infinite
		loops;  for example, such a loop would occur if a sym-
		bolic link pointed to  an  ancestor.  This  expression
		should not be used with the -type l expression.

Whereas I'm not sure whether or not FreeBSD's find(1) supports the infinite loop
detection feature, the Solaris description appears to be the most accurate.

Can someone verify this for me, and submit a diff/patch? This PR's been open
for over a year.

Thanks,
Pete

-- 
Peter C. Lai
University of Connecticut
Dept. of Molecular and Cell Biology
Yale University School of Medicine
SenseLab | Research Assistant
http://cowbert.2y.net/