uucp cleanup script (SysVr4.0)

[Ron Guilmette]

In article <1991May25.003224.5804 at eci386.uucp> woods at eci386.UUCP (Greg A. Woods) writes:
>
>DOWN WITH EXCESSIVE SYMBOLIC LINKS!  They are a poor hack, and they
>cause way too much confusion....  They should only be used when it is
>*ABSOLUTELY* necessary to have a reference to file on a different
>filesystem, or *ABSOLUTELY* necessary to have multiple locations/names
>for a directory.  K.I.S.S.!

If you want to see a really good example of the misuse of symlinks,
check out the symlinks underneath /usr/include on a MIPS/os (version 4.51)
system.

There are several links of the form:

		filename -> .

In other words, there are "circularities" formed from symlinks.

If you don't understand why circularities are bad, log onto a MIPS system
and then do:

		cd /usr/include
		find . -follow -type f -print

Be prepared to wait a long long time for it to finish.  Alternatively, you
could also do:

		cd /usr/include
		ls -lR

which produces similar results.
-- 

// Ron ("Loose Cannon") Guilmette
// Internet: rfg at ncd.com      uucp: ...uunet!lupine!rfg
// New motto:  If it ain't broke, try using a bigger hammer.