Bug#339793: sed -i also removes symbolic links and creates new files

[Kingsley G. Morse Jr.]

FYI: I happened to notice that editing in place
with sed's "-i" option also removes symlinks and
creates new, duplciate files.

For example:

    $ # Create a regular file with "Hello world" in it.
    $ echo "Hello world" > original_file

    $ # Create a symbolic link to it.
    $ ln -s original_file link_file

    $ # before sed, link_file is a link
    $ ls -l link_file

    $ # Here is where the damage happens
    $ sed -i 's/Hello//' link_file

    $ # after sed, link_file is a regular file
    $ ls -l link_file

    $ # and it has been edited
    $ cat link_file

    $ # but the original file is unchanged
    $ cat original_file

Thanks,
Kingsley



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