Re: Wierd bug report: /usr/share/.. = / ???

[David Caldwell <david@porkrind.org>]

On 04/08/02 13:25:39 -0400 Adam C Powell IV wrote:

> Michel Dänzer wrote:
>
> > On Mon, 2002-04-08 at 13:45, Adam C Powell IV wrote:
> >
> > > I just received bug #141738 against petsc2.1.1-doc saying that links
> > > from /usr/share/doc/petsc2.1.1-doc/include are going to
> > > /lib/petscdir/2.1.1/include instead of /usr/lib/petscdir/2.1.1/include.
> > >
> > > This is really odd, as I made them using dh_link and the links seem
> > > correct (../../../.. should be /usr, right?), but indeed, they give
> > > file  not found errors when I try to inspect the files.
> > >
> > > But what's *really* bizarre is:
> > >
> > > cd /usr/share/doc/petsc2.1.1-doc/include
> > > ls .. [gives what I'd expect, /usr/share/doc/petsc2.1.1-doc contents]
> > > ls ../.. [gives what I'd expect, /usr/share/doc contents]
> > > ls ../../.. [gives what I'd expect, /usr/share contents]
> > > ls ../../../.. gives not /usr, but root!
> > >
> > > What's wrong with the system, such that this happens -- for both me and
> > > the bug reporter?  And why has this changed since I first made the
> > > symlinks and tested them, and they worked?
> > >
> > > I don't think this is a PETSc bug, but something deeper...
> > I can't reproduce this (but keep in mind that the .. entry in a
> > directory can theoretically point anywhere), but why don't you use
> > absolute link targets anyway? Looks like they would be shorter and less
> > error prone here.
> What do you mean by "the .. entry in a directory can theoretically point
> anywhere"?

I think it means you should fsck your disk. Possibly the '..' in /usr/share 
is pointing to the wrong directory (/ instead of /usr). What happens when 
you 'cd ..' repeatedly out to root? Does it skip /usr?

-David


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