[Info-vax] links and deleting directory trees (Re: Some questions on software for VMS 7.3 VAX)

[Craig A. Berry]

On 1/22/16 9:28 AM, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
> On 2016-01-22 15:00:53 +0000, Bob Koehler said:
>
>>    For at least ODS-2 and -5, the second name entered by ... "set
>> file/enter", is an alias, not a hardlink.
>
> With OpenVMS V7.3 and later on OpenVMS Alpha and on OpenVMS I64, SET
> FILE /ENTER creates either an alias or a hard link, depending on the
> setting of the target ODS-5 volume.
>
> ODS-2 gets only aliases.
>
> The DCL command for both aliases and hard links is the same.
>
> What happens depends on the setting of the target ODS-5 volume.
>
> This is another example of a command or a routine that can do different
> things based on some compatibility setting(s) located elsewhere.

Yes, and even more to the point considering how the discussion got here
is whether PCSI REMOVE, DELETE/TREE, and/or DFU DELETE/TREE have
explicit designs around whether to follow links and what kind of links,
or whether what you get is just the random intersection of the evolving
behaviors of the lower layers.

I would expect a tool designed to delete a directory tree to remove
links but not follow them, at least by default, and in the case of PCSI
I would expect it to only remove whatever it installed, whether that's
both the link and the target or only the link.