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I want to use symlinks extensively. However, if I move the target file, the symlink becomes broken (unlike on Windows). That's not acceptable to me, so I either need a solution or I won't be able to use symlinks the way I wish to.

Is there a solution that will work with Dolphin file manager?

A command line solution is described on commandlinefu. In summary, it is something like one of these:

lmv(){for a in ${@:1:$(expr $#-1)};do [ -e "$a" -a -e "${@:$#:1}" ] && mv "$a";"${@:$#:1}" && ln -s "${@:$#:1}"/"$(basename "$a")";"$(dirname "$a")";done}

lmv(){for a in ${@:1:$(expr $#-1)};do [ -e "$a" -a -e "${@:$#}" ]   && mv "$a";"${@:$#}"   && ln -s "${@:$#}"/"$(basename "$a")";"$(dirname "$a")";done}

But about half the time I'm using a file manager (Dolphin), so I need a complete solution to this problem. Is a solution available for a GUI file manager?

EDIT: The context of this question is that I'm searching for an alternative to hardlinks. I previously asked this question about the pitfalls of hardlinks.

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  • "unlike on Windows"..... except for those new applications shortcuts in Vista/7 I'm not sure what you mean by that. Maybe what you want are Hardlinks? Hardlinks will not work for directories however.
    – Huckle
    Mar 30, 2012 at 2:02
  • This was my question about hardlinks: superuser.com/questions/402295/… I may end up using hardlinks, but I'm looking at alternatives. Smart symlinks (if they are possible) would be one alternative. My other alternative is probably to make all the hardlinked files read-only by default and switch my text editor to something that respects that permission better.
    – MountainX
    Mar 30, 2012 at 3:21
  • Regarding Windows, I haven't used it in about 6-7 years, so I presume I'm wrong about how shortcuts work on it. But I read someone say that the shortcuts follow the files as they are moved (so the shortcuts don't break). That's what I'd like to achieve, if possible.
    – MountainX
    Mar 30, 2012 at 3:22
  • When A is the shortcut and B is the actual file, moving A would mean it still worked as long as it's reference to B was still valid, but if you move B, then A's reference isn't valid. Are you sure they didn't mean moving the shortcut and not the file it pointed to, this seems much more common and likely scenario IMO, and in that sense symlinks will work fine I think.
    – Jeff Welling
    Mar 30, 2012 at 4:02
  • @Jeff - what I read was that moving file B somehow automatically updates the shortcut A. I don't know if that's actually true for Windows, but it is the result I'm trying to achieve on Linux. It can be done on the command line, as per the code in my question. But I want to see if Dolphin can be made to do it as well.
    – MountainX
    Mar 30, 2012 at 4:11

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As suggested by Huckle, it sound's like what you want are hardlinks, though as he notes that won't work for directories.

Sidenote, If there is a reason that hardlinks won't work in for you, adding it to your question may help get answers that are of more help to you.

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  • Thanks. I edited my question. I'm looking for an alternative to hardlinks. I'm thinking of them as "smart symlinks" (somewhat like smart pointers in C++ maybe).
    – MountainX
    Mar 30, 2012 at 3:27
  • Hardlinks don't really work either, because the stupid unix guys have no API for file content swap. Thats why most programs destroy the inode number when editing a file. And then the hardlinks break too.
    – Lothar
    Feb 22, 2020 at 10:52

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