PackagingDrafts/Symlinks
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Symlinks
There are two ways of making a symlink, either as a relative link or an absolute link. In Fedora, neither method is required. Packagers should use their best judgement when deciding which method of symlink creation is appropriate.
Relative Symlinks
A relative symlink is a symlink which points to a file or directory relative to the position of the symlink. For example, this command would create a relative symlink:
ln -s ../..%{_bindir}/foo %{buildroot}/bin/foo
Pros:
- Relative symlinks will point to the same file inside or outside of a chroot.
Cons:
- Much more complicated to create than absolute symlinks
- Relative symlinks may break or behave unexpectedly when a part of a filesystem is mounted to a custom location.
- Relative symlinks may break when bind mounting or symlinking directories.
- Relative symlinks may make it more difficult to use rpm system macros.
Absolute Symlinks
An absolute symlink is a symlink which points to an absolute file or directory path. For example, this command would create an absolute symlink:
ln -s %{_bindir}/foo %{buildroot}/bin/foo
Pros:
- Much easier to create than relative symlinks.
- Absolute symlinks work properly when bind mounting or symlinking directories.
- Absolute symlinks work well with rpm system macros.
Cons:
- Absolute symlinks may break when used with chroots.
Discussion
See Talk:PackagingDrafts/Symlinks for discussion
