[Boost-users] (newbie) is_regular_file vs. symlinks in boost::filesystem ?

Subject: [Boost-users] (newbie) is_regular_file vs. symlinks in boost::filesystem ?
From: Christian Convey (christian.convey_at_[hidden])
Date: 2012-09-17 16:34:21

I'm writing code that takes a file pathname as a command-line
argument.  My program doesn't care whether the pathname is for a
regular file, or if it's a symlink that ultimately leads to a regular
file.

This seems like such a common usage pattern that I would have expected
Boost to have a built-in solution to this problem.  But I don't see
one.  At the moment it looks like I'll have to write code like this:

my_path = argv[1];

while (my_path is a symlink) {
   set my_path to the target of the symlink;
   error out of a cycle or excessive indirection is detected;
}

if (! is_regualr_file( my_path )) {
   tell user there's a problem;
}

Do I really need to write code like this?