Robert Collins <robertc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes: > > Most POSIX utilities are required to leave output files > > hard-linked, so there's good precedent for Autoconf's behavior. Even > > if we altered Autoconf, that still leaves the sh, cp, etc. as tools > > that won't break the hard links. > > Autoconf is designed to operate on source code - like patch is. As far as I can see, this is a bug in 'patch', as 'patch' currently violates POSIX in this respect. <http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/007904975/utilities/xcu_chap01.html#tag_01_07_01_04> says that when a standard utility writes an existing regular file, it should not unlink and then create it; it should simply open it for writing. > It needn't be the default, but it certainly should be an option, Yes, it would be reasonable to add it as an option.
