From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG  Fri Mar  4 19:05:47 2011
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG>
Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org
Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D9C331065678
	for <freebsd-stable@freebsd.org>; Fri,  4 Mar 2011 19:05:47 +0000 (UTC)
	(envelope-from jilles@stack.nl)
Received: from mx1.stack.nl (relay02.stack.nl [IPv6:2001:610:1108:5010::104])
	by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3FFAE8FC1E
	for <freebsd-stable@freebsd.org>; Fri,  4 Mar 2011 19:05:47 +0000 (UTC)
Received: from turtle.stack.nl (turtle.stack.nl [IPv6:2001:610:1108:5010::132])
	by mx1.stack.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7B2883593B1;
	Fri,  4 Mar 2011 20:05:45 +0100 (CET)
Received: by turtle.stack.nl (Postfix, from userid 1677)
	id 6668A1739F; Fri,  4 Mar 2011 20:05:45 +0100 (CET)
Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2011 20:05:45 +0100
From: Jilles Tjoelker <jilles@stack.nl>
To: Stephen Montgomery-Smith <stephen@missouri.edu>
Message-ID: <20110304190545.GA38881@stack.nl>
References: <4D6BD83B.3040609@missouri.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline
In-Reply-To: <4D6BD83B.3040609@missouri.edu>
User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15)
Cc: FreeBSD Stable <freebsd-stable@freebsd.org>
Subject: Re: Change in behavior to stat(1)
X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5
Precedence: list
List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code <freebsd-stable.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-stable>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-stable-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-stable@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-stable-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-stable>,
	<mailto:freebsd-stable-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:05:47 -0000

On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 11:15:39AM -0600, Stephen Montgomery-Smith wrote:
> I had a little script that would remove broken links.  I used to do it 
> like this:

> if ! stat -L $link > /dev/null; then rm $link; fi

> But recently (some time in February according to the CVS records) stat 
> was changed so that stat -L would use lstat(2) if the link is broken.

> So I had to change it to

> if stat -L $link | awk '{print $3}' | grep l > /dev/null;
> then rm $link; fi

> but it is a lot less elegant.

> What is the proper accepted way to remove broken links?

A better answer to your original question was already given, but for
that command, isn't it sufficient to do

  if ! [ -e $link ]; then rm $link; fi

All test(1)'s primaries that test things about files follow symlinks,
except for -h/-L.

-- 
Jilles Tjoelker