LINK_MAX on directories (POSIX)

[Larry McVoy]

A long (months) time ago, I said:

$ The pathconf LINK_MAX question has different meanings depending on the
$ path.  If you ask about anything but a directory you get the number of
$ links you may make to the file (MAXLINKS or whatever your kernel calls
$ it).  If you ask about a directory the answer must be the number of
$ entries allowed in the specified directory, *not* the number of links
$ allowed to the directory.

Several of the POSIX people out there quickly corrected me; I misread the
spec, LINK_MAX really means the maximum number of links, just like you'd
expect.

You may be thinking "well, if this turkey was wrong the first time, why
should I think he's got it right this time?" and that's not a bad
thought.  Both Dave Lennert & Bob Lenk (two POSIX guru's) corrected me
on the posting; hence this followup.  However, I should add that none
of us pretend to speak for IEEE on this point.  Our opinion is as
stated above, if you really want the right answer, you go to IEEE.

Sorry about the misinformation,

	 What I say is my opinion.  I am not paid to speak for Sun.

Larry McVoy, Sun Microsystems                          ...!sun!lm or lm at sun.com