They are almost certainly just due to the fact that it is really hard
under some UNIX filesystems to be able to distinguish between two
filenames that have the same inode.
I know, you could look at the filename, but even that is actually _really_
hard:
mv ../a /home/user/17/a
where "a" has the same inode. You can't tell by looking whether the two
files are the same - they _may_ be depending on what the cwd happens to
be.
Obviously the kernel knows the cwd, but even then there may be nasty
aliasing issues etc.
I think it's just an old and strange special case that POSIX just
codified: not because it made sense, but because that was how UNIX works.
> Are you telling me that
>
> rename("a", "b") = 0
> lstat("a") = 0
>
> make sense? ;-)
I don't think anybody really thinks it makes sense, no.
Linus
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/