[Info-vax] Some questions on software for VMS 7.3 VAX

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2016-01-22 11:54, hb wrote:
> On 01/22/2016 10:48 AM, Johnny Billquist wrote:
>> On 2016-01-21 23:43, hb wrote:
>>> On 01/21/2016 10:32 PM, Johnny Billquist wrote:
>>>> Well, hardlinks exists even in ODS-1...
>>>
>>> Alias, hardlink? There are only aliases in ODS-2.
>>
>> What do you mean by that?
>>
>> Hardlinks are hardlinks. They are not so difficult to understand. And
>> they exist under ODS-1. In RSX you even have the ability to create them
>> with PIP. Supported since the 70s.
>>
>> The same FID, referred to by another name, possibly in another directory.
>
> With a link count or not. With a link count it is a hardlink without it
> is an alias.

That was a rather weird distinction that I've never heard before.

If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, it probably is a duck.
They behave exactly the same, with the exception that you do not have a 
reference count. How does that make them different?

Well, when you delete the entry, different things happen. In both cases, 
the file disappears from where you deleted it, but without a reference 
count, you'll either end up like nothing happened, or have dangling 
directory entries pointing to something that does not exist, depending 
on how you did the delete.

And dangling directory entries can be created in other ways as well. So, 
why would you consider this reference count to be important, except as a 
convenience?

	Johnny