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Posix Compliance
on an MPE/iX machine gives you the reliability that you have come
to expect from MPE for many years and at the same time allows you
to reap the benefits of concepts widely used in other operating
systems. In this article I will show you how to use a Posix concept
known as Symbolic Links in the MPE/iX environment. (There are many
Posix methods that you can apply directly to your system without
the need to enter the Posix Shell and I will discuss more of them
in future articles.)
A symbolic link is like a permanent file equation that goes much
further. The existence of a symbolic link makes all references to
a filename to automatically reference a different file including
run, print, build, purge, fcopy, editor, dbopen... You can use symbolic
links for databases, programs, command files, and directories. A
symbolic link is created by issuing the MPE command :NEWLINK
as in this example:
:newlink link=myfile;to=myfile2.temp
Now any command
or program that references "myfile" will instead reference
"myfile2.temp". Other related commands that you need to know
regarding symbolic links are:
: PURGELINK
myfile to remove a symbolic link called myfile
: LISTFILE
@. @. @ , 7 ;seleq=[object=symlink] to list all symbolic
links on the system)
One application for symbolic links is a project that involves moving
a database or a group of files to a different group and/or volume
set. Changing the file names typically involves adjusting UDCs,
command files, hundreds of batch jobs, and possibly recompiling
programs. Creating a symbolic link one time for each file eliminates
all of those changes and the problems that would undoubtedly occur.