Symlinks have their uses, more than you obviously are familliar with. Here are a few, just off the top of my head:
1) Use symlink to point to the latest version of an app: /usr/local/bin/my_app/v1.0 /usr/local/bin/my_app/v1.1 /usr/local/bin/my_app/current -> v1.1
Users who care to use the latest and greatest only have to set their path to include/usr/local/bin/my_app/current while users who want to use a specific version may reference the appropriate directory.
2) Some unix applications check for argument 0 upon start-up to determine their behavior:
rlogin - when a symbolic link is created with the name of a remote host, rlogin will connect to that host when the user invokes it via the symbolic link.
3) Sometimes it is more convenient to create a single directory for mount points to remote disks. Using symbolic links from the file system into this mount directory allows you to have the best of both worlds: easy to manage mount directory and a file system that makes sense.
I'm sure most veteran unix/linux users can come up with many more examples.
As a general comment, it seems that what "makes sense" to one person may not make sense to another -- it's a matter of what people are used to. Don't knock a file system just because you don't understand it and have some learning to do. In due time, I'm sure you'll appreciate it as much as the advocates do.
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Symlinks have their uses, more than you obviously are familliar with. Here are a few, just off the top of my head:
/usr/local/bin/my_app/current while users who want to use a specific version may reference the appropriate directory.
1) Use symlink to point to the latest version of an app:
/usr/local/bin/my_app/v1.0
/usr/local/bin/my_app/v1.1
/usr/local/bin/my_app/current -> v1.1
Users who care to use the latest and greatest only have to set their path to include
2) Some unix applications check for argument 0 upon start-up to determine their behavior:
rlogin - when a symbolic link is created with the name of a remote host, rlogin will connect to that host when the user invokes it via the symbolic link.
3) Sometimes it is more convenient to create a single directory for mount points to remote disks. Using symbolic links from the file system into this mount directory allows you to have the best of both worlds: easy to manage mount directory and a file system that makes sense.
I'm sure most veteran unix/linux users can come up with many more examples.
As a general comment, it seems that what "makes sense" to one person may not make sense to another -- it's a matter of what people are used to. Don't knock a file system just because you don't understand it and have some learning to do. In due time, I'm sure you'll appreciate it as much as the advocates do.