[Boost-bugs] [Boost C++ Libraries] #4153: Add symlink support for bjam on Windows

Subject: [Boost-bugs] [Boost C++ Libraries] #4153: Add symlink support for bjam on Windows
From: Boost C++ Libraries (noreply_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-04-27 09:28:54

#4153: Add symlink support for bjam on Windows
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 Reporter:  Sorin Sbarnea <sorin.sbarnea@…>          |       Owner:  grafik 
     Type:  Bugs                                     |      Status:  new    
Milestone:  Boost 1.43.0                             |   Component:  bjam   
  Version:  Boost 1.42.0                             |    Severity:  Problem
 Keywords:  symlink bjam                             |  
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 Currently bjam does not supports symlinks under Windows and it does copy
 the files instead. This is doubling the required disk space for boost
 libraries (overhead of ~1.4GB).

 Windows does supports several types of symlinks and hardlinks.

 The problem is that there are several limitations that require to make a
 wise decision regarding implementation:

 NT symlinks are limited to 32 per path so we cannot use them for
 libraries.

 Instead we can create hardlinks because they do not have this limitation.

 Now regarding hardlinks:
 * NTFS is required (not FAT32 support but this shouldn't be a real
 limitation in 2010). The same limitation would apply if you have FAT32 on
 Linux.
 * Hardlink can be created using two options: fsutil hardlink create (XP+,
 but requires Admin rights), or mklink /H (Vista+, requires 'Create
 symbolic link' privilege that by default is assigned to Administrators
 group.)

 I could easily patch symlink.jab file to use mklink or fsutil but I don't
 know if the above limitation are a blocking issue for accepting the patch.
 If this is true what would be the requirements for adding this feature to
 bjam?

 I'm not sure if I can check the current partition type and privileges
 using jam but I could easily check if mklink fails and fallback to copy.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/ticket/4153>
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