Feature #4189: FileUtils#ln_r

• Status: Closed
• Priority: Normal
• Assignee: mame (Yusuke Endoh)
• Target version: -

[trans (Thomas Sawyer)]

=begin
I wrote a method for FileUtils to do recursive hard linking. It works just like cp_r but links instead of copies.

The code can be found along with the pull request I made to ruby/ruby on Github:

http://github.com/ruby/ruby/pull/4#issuecomment-631067

It's a pretty handy method for "staging" read-only files. For example I've used it to stage test fixture files in a tmp testing location and I've used it collect together a set of files for packaging into a tarball.
=end

[naruse (Yui NARUSE)]

• Status changed from Open to Assigned
• Assignee set to matz (Yukihiro Matsumoto)

=begin

=end

[matz (Yukihiro Matsumoto)]

=begin
Since ln command does not have -r option, I am kind of hesitating to add ln_r. I understand usefulness of the method. But I am not sure yet where to add (is fileutils the best place?), and what to add (is ln_r the best name for the method?).

matz.
=end

[sakuro (Sakuro OZAWA)]

=begin
FYI
X11 distribution has lndir command, it creates real directories and file symlinks though.
=end

[johan556 (Johan Holmberg)]

=begin
GNU cp has the -l option, so I think the proposed method is similiar to "cp -lr" on Linux systems.
=end

[reset (Jamie Winsor)]

This ticket hasn't seen action in a year, but I wanted to chime in and +1 the feature.

Having a convenience function to recursively create hard links based on a source directory is a rare need, but a need, nonetheless. I think FileUtils is a fine place for it when compared to the other choices of where to place it in Ruby core.

[zzak (Zak Scott)]

• File fileutils_ln_r.patch fileutils_ln_r.patch added
• Description updated (diff)

Adding Thomas' patch from github.

[mame (Yusuke Endoh)]

• Target version set to 2.6

[matz (Yukihiro Matsumoto)]

Accepted, but I am against the name ln_r because it behaves differently from ln -r (relative).

Matz.

[akr (Akira Tanaka)]

After discussion at the developer meeting, cp_lr may be an consensus.

[naruse (Yui NARUSE)]

• Target version deleted (2.6)

[mame (Yusuke Endoh)]

• File fileutils_cp_lr.patch fileutils_cp_lr.patch added

I'll commit this patch that introduces FileUtils.cp_lr in a few days. Let me know if there is a problem.

[mame (Yusuke Endoh)]

• Assignee changed from matz (Yukihiro Matsumoto) to mame (Yusuke Endoh)

[mame (Yusuke Endoh)]

• Status changed from Assigned to Closed

Applied in changeset trunk|r62739.

---

Add FileUtils#cp_lr

• lib/fileutils.rb: Add FileUtils#cp_lr. This method creates hard links
  of each file from directory to another directory recursively.
  This patch is based on Thomas Sawyers and Zachary Scott.
  [Feature #4189] [ruby-core:33820]