[ILUG] How to copy some files

[Ronan Cunniffe]

Quoting kevin lyda <kevin+dated+1027734126.560c2e at linux.ie>:

> uh, i wouldn't.  i was referring to the previous message which discussed
> the idea of a symlink that referred to a 64 bit device id and the inode
> of the file.  i gave two examples of why it wouldn't work.

If you want an example of such a "symlink" - loopback fs's.  The original data
is referred to by major:minor devno + inode.  There is a static (64 byte?)
buffer that gets filled with as much of the filename will fit, but I don't think
it's used for anything except displaying to users.  There's no protection
against deleting the original file while it's still losetup'd or even mounted. 
Just don't reuse the inode before losetup -d.... or else.

Ronan