[UFO Chicago] very newbie 'nix question

[Sean Neakums]

begin  Elliot Shank quotation:

> On Sat, 2002-01-26 at 15:29, Nick Moffitt wrote:
>> 	Oh, that's easy!  On Unix/GNU/BSD/Linux/any POSIX system,
>> directories *are* files!
>
> Ummm... errmm... while you are quoting ye old platitude about the
> "nature" of directories in *NIX filesystems, you are vastly
> incorrect in the realm of older *NIX systems.

It's not a platitude, it's the truth.  Directories (since they existed
as we now know them) have always been files.

> "In olden days", you could not "mv" a directory across partitions.
> You had to "cp" or "cpio" or "tar" them to the new location and then
> "rm" the old ones.

You couldn't do it with files, either.  man rename(2).

It only works with GNU mv because it does the cp/rm under the hood.

-- 
Sean Neakums - <sneakums@ufo.chicago.il.us> --- --- -- -
Director of International Operations, UFO Chicago - -- -
http://ufo.chicago.il.us/ --- ------ ----- ---- --- -- -