Change description of file(1) following symlinks to the truth (namely,

by default, file(1) does not follow symlinks, the -L flag must be
specified.

PR:		docs/8602
Submitted by:	Kazuo Horikawa <k-horik@yk.rim.or.jp>
Reviewed by:	nik

1 files changed, 16 insertions, 28 deletions

diff --git a/bin/ln/symlink.7 b/bin/ln/symlink.7
index efaf21f..1ec95c8 100644
--- a/bin/ln/symlink.7
+++ b/bin/ln/symlink.7
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 .\" SUCH DAMAGE.
 .\"
 .\"	@(#)symlink.7	8.3 (Berkeley) 3/31/94
-.\"	$Id: symlink.7,v 1.7 1997/06/19 01:07:05 jdp Exp $
+.\"	$Id: symlink.7,v 1.8 1998/04/24 12:38:18 des Exp $
 .\"
 .Dd March 31, 1994
 .Dt SYMLINK 7
@@ -160,25 +160,7 @@ is included in this rule, while the command
 is not.
 (The latter is described in the third area, below.)
 .Pp
-If it is explicitly intended that the command operate on the symbolic
-link instead of following the symbolic link, e.g., it is desired that
-.Dq Li "file slink"
-display the type of file that
-.Dq Li slink
-is, whether it is a symbolic link or not, the
-.Fl h
-option should be used.
-In the above example,
-.Dq Li "file slink"
-would report the type of the file referenced by
-.Dq Li slink ,
-while
-.Dq Li "file -h slink"
-would report that
-.Dq Li slink
-was a symbolic link.
-.Pp
-There are three exceptions to this rule.
+There are four exceptions to this rule.
 The
 .Xr mv 1
 and
@@ -219,12 +201,23 @@ options affect its behavior even though it is not doing a walk of
 a file tree.)
 .Pp
 The
+.Xr file 1
+command is also an exception to this rule.
+The
+.Xr file 1
+command does not follow symbolic links named as argument by default.
+The 
+.Xr file 1
+command does follow symbolic links named as argument if
+.Fl L
+option is specified.
+.Pp
+The
 .Bx 4.4
 system differs from historical 4BSD systems in that the
-.Nm chown ,
-.Nm chgrp
+.Nm chown
 and
-.Nm file
+.Nm chgrp
 commands follow symbolic links specified on the command line.
 .Ss Commands traversing a file tree.
 The following commands either optionally or always traverse file trees:
@@ -302,11 +295,6 @@ For example, the command
 .Dq Li "chown -HR user slink"
 will traverse the file hierarchy rooted in the file pointed to by
 .Dq Li slink .
-Note, the
-.Fl H
-is not the same as the previously discussed
-.Fl h
-flag.
 The
 .Fl H
 flag causes symbolic links specified on the command line to be