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https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/HADOOP-4044?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=12630015#action_12630015
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dhruba borthakur commented on HADOOP-4044:
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I would like to propose that the symbolic links point only to files (and not to
directories). Why this restriction:
1. Symbolic links that point to directories are more like mount-points.
2. My current use-case (HADOOP-4058) does not require symbolic links to point
to directories.
3. Directories in HDFS are more like object-references to file(s), they do not
yet have all POSIX semantics associated with them. The clients do not parse
components of the directory path, instead sends the entire pathname to the
server for a lookup.
4. Avoiding symbolic links that point to directories keeps the code simple
(till we really need it). An open(/foo/bar/zoo) where bar is a symbolic link
does not arise.
In this proposal, a symbolic link can still be relative or absolute. No
kickback (via exception or otherwise) is needed to implement this proposal.
Also, this proposal does not preclude implementing the "symbolic links to
directories" in the future.
> Create symbolic links in HDFS
> -----------------------------
>
> Key: HADOOP-4044
> URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/HADOOP-4044
> Project: Hadoop Core
> Issue Type: New Feature
> Components: dfs
> Reporter: dhruba borthakur
> Assignee: dhruba borthakur
> Attachments: symLink1.patch
>
>
> HDFS should support symbolic links. A symbolic link is a special type of file
> that contains a reference to another file or directory in the form of an
> absolute or relative path and that affects pathname resolution. Programs
> which read or write to files named by a symbolic link will behave as if
> operating directly on the target file. However, archiving utilities can
> handle symbolic links specially and manipulate them directly.
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