Re: Treating Junctions consistently, as "normal dirs" as w/linux "bind"-type mount

[Andrey Repin <anrdaemon at yandex dot ru>]

Greetings, L. A. Walsh!

> Didn't see a response to this, so reposting, as this
> would provide a needed vol and subdir mount facility as
> exists on linux...

> Especially, since there was a misunderstanding of what
> was needed or wanted w/regards to the JUNCTION file-system
> mounts in Windows.   Didn't need mount table updated, just
> needed it to look like a normal mount (as 1 of the 
> 2 junction usages already does).  So it's just a matter of
> making the other junction type w/a path be treated as
> a normal dir instead of a symlink.  As it is now, it's 
> inconsistent with junctions created with mountvol being
> different from junctions created with linkd.

> Symlink(D)s would stay as they are now and provide the
> symlink functionality.

I would argue against all junctions being treated blindly.
The difference with bind mounts in Linux is that in Linux you don't have the
information available within the filesystem itself, and have no other option,
than to treat them as regular directories.
Only direct volume junctions cause an issue, and this is what should be fixed,
if possible, not sidetracked with questionable workarounds.

> Original note:

> Corinna Vinschen wrote:
>>
>>>  They
>>> half-way work under Cygwin (junctions to volumes look like
>>> mounted file systems look under linux, but junctions to
>>> pathnames get converted by cygwin to symlinks -- losing
>>> information when such junctions are restored.
>>>
>>> Corinna -- could you _please_ re-look at supporting both
>>> types of junctions as mount points?  Then Cygwin could have
>>> "mount-parity" with linux! ;-)
>>>     
>>
>> That's not easily possible.  Mount points in Cygwin are virtual entries
>> stored in the per-user session, in-memory mount table. 
> ---
>    Ahh.. you are making it more complicated than what I'm
> asking! (yey! this should be simpler)...

>    If I have a junction to the root of another volume, in
> cygwin it looks like a normal directory:

> Using mountvol...

> C:\>mountvol mountedVol \\?\Volume{578b2172-f917-11e4-b3d9-a0369f15ce28}
> 03/02/2017  01:24 PM    <JUNCTION>     mountedVol 
> [\??\Volume{578b2172-f917-11e4-b3d9-a0369f15ce28}\]
> 01/11/2017  04:17 PM    <JUNCTION>     var [C:\Windows\System32\cygwin\var]

> ### a junction is created ... under Cygwin. 
> Note, BTW, that 'var' is also a JUNCTION (a MS-mount point).


> C:\>exit
> exit
/>> ll
> total 100672654
> drwxrwx---+  1            0 Nov 20  2010 $RECYCLE.BIN/
> ...
> drwxrwx---+  1            0 May 15  2015 mountedVol/
> lrwxrwxrwx   1           28 Jan 11 16:17 var -> 
> /Windows/System32/cygwin/var/

/>> ls mountedVol
> $RECYCLE.BIN/  System Volume Information/

> ### mountedVol looks like a normal directory ^^^, but 'var' shows
> ### as a symlink.  That's the problem I'm referring to.  I'm saying
> ### JUNCTIONs (MS-mountpoints) should show up as the 'same' in
> ### Cygwin -- i.e. --

> ### But is not necessary that it be shown in Cygwin's "mount table":

/>> mount
> C:/bin on /usr/bin type ntfs (binary,auto)
> C:/lib on /usr/lib type ntfs (binary,auto)
> C: on / type ntfs (binary,auto)
> B: on /b type smbfs (binary,user,noumount,auto)
> ...

> ----
> It's the same on linux.
> linux> stat -c %D /var
> 822
> linux> sudo mount --rbind /var/rtmp /tmp
> linux> stat -c %D /tmp
> 822

> ----
> A mount from the same fs to another place on the same fs,
> looks like a normal directory (not a symlink).

> This is the behavior I would want for 'JUNCTION's under
> Cygwin. 

> On Windows, mklink creates a 'SYMLINK' or 'SYMLINKD' when
> directories are linked.  Those would stay as "Symlinks".









> --
> Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
> FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
> Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
> Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple



-- 
With best regards,
Andrey Repin
Thursday, March 9, 2017 16:33:49

Sorry for my terrible english...


--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple