The first argument to a "symlink" system call is handled through a
different mechanism, so both:
ln -s foo/ slash
ln -s foo noslash
will work irrespective of the proposed changes. On an ext2
filesystem, they create slightly different symlinks:
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 buhr buhr 3 Dec 17 12:58 noslash -> foo
lrwxrwxrwx 1 buhr buhr 4 Dec 17 12:58 slash -> foo/
However, in practice, this doesn't make a difference. Whether "foo"
is a regular file, a directory, or another symlink (dangling or not),
"noslash" and "slash" appear to behave the same in all cases (except,
of course, if you use an explicit "readlink" call).
Kevin <buhr@stat.wisc.edu>