NAME

       lndir - create a shadow directory of symbolic links to another directory tree

SYNOPSIS

       lndir [ -silent ] [ -ignorelinks ] [ -withrevinfo ] fromdir [ todir ]

DESCRIPTION

       The  lndir  program makes a shadow copy todir of a directory tree fromdir, except that the
       shadow is not populated with real files but instead with symbolic links  pointing  at  the
       real  files  in the fromdir directory tree.  This is usually useful for maintaining source
       code for different machine architectures.  You create a shadow directory containing  links
       to  the  real  source, which you will have usually mounted from a remote machine.  You can
       build in the shadow tree, and the object files will be in the shadow directory, while  the
       source files in the shadow directory are just symlinks to the real files.

       This  scheme  has  the advantage that if you update the source, you need not propagate the
       change to the other architectures by hand, since all source in all shadow directories  are
       symlinks to the real thing: just cd to the shadow directory and recompile away.

       The  todir  argument  is  optional  and  defaults  to  the current directory.  The fromdir
       argument may be relative (e.g.,  ../src)  and  is  relative  to  todir  (not  the  current
       directory).

       Note that BitKeeper, CVS, CVS.adm, .git, .hg, RCS, SCCS, and .svn directories are shadowed
       only if the -withrevinfo flag is specified.  Files  with  names  ending  in  ~  are  never
       shadowed.

       If  you  add  files, simply run lndir again.  New files will be silently added.  Old files
       will be checked that they have the correct link.

       Deleting files is a more painful problem; the symlinks will just point  into  never  never
       land.

       If  a  file  in  fromdir is a symbolic link, lndir will make the same link in todir rather
       than making a link back to the (symbolic link) entry in fromdir.   The  -ignorelinks  flag
       changes this behavior.

OPTIONS

       -silent
              Normally  lndir  outputs the name of each subdirectory as it descends into it.  The
              -silent option suppresses these status messages.

       -ignorelinks
              Causes the program to not treat symbolic links  in  fromdir  specially.   The  link
              created  in  todir  will  point  back  to the corresponding (symbolic link) file in
              fromdir.  If the link is to a directory, this is almost certainly the wrong thing.

              This option exists mostly to emulate the behavior the C version  of  lndir  had  in
              X11R6.  Its use is not recommended.

       -withrevinfo
              Causes  any  source  control  manager  subdirectories  (those named BitKeeper, CVS,
              CVS.adm, .git, .hg, RCS, SCCS, or .svn) to  be  treated  as  any  other  directory,
              rather than ignored.

DIAGNOSTICS

       The  program  displays  the name of each subdirectory it enters, followed by a colon.  The
       -silent option suppresses these messages.

       A warning message is displayed if the symbolic link cannot be created.  The usual  problem
       is that a regular file of the same name already exists.

       If  the  link already exists but doesn't point to the correct file, the program prints the
       link name and the location where it does point.

SEE ALSO

       ln(1).