On Fri, 13 Sep 2002, Justin Clift wrote:
> "scott.marlowe" wrote:
> <snip>
> > > Seems like the NT4 users are left out in the cold though until we add
> > > some kind of ability for PostgreSQL to not look at the filesystem for
> > > info about where to put the xlog files.
> >
> > This isn't true. With the resource kit, you get the gnu utils, and ln
> > works a charm under NT4 with ntfs. And not just for directories, but
> > files as well. Unless Microsoft somehow removed that functionality in the
> > intervening years since I've used NT. (wouldn't put it past them, but I
> > doubt they have.)
>
> The reference point that I'm working from is this:
>
> - Am testing out the third beta of the Native PostgreSQL port for
> Windows, on NT4 SP6 at present.
> - Have an internal RAID array of Seagate Cheetah 10kRPM drives. When
> installing the PGDATA directory on one drive it gives a certain kind of
> performance, and I'm interested in testing the performance of the Native
> PostgreSQL port for Windows with the xlog directory being located on
> another drive.
> - Have tried doing normal shortcuts, and have also tried using the
> cygwin "ln" command to create the appropriate soft link. Both
> approaches create a shortcut object of the correct name pointing to the
> correct place on the new drive, but the only thing that appears to
> follow this shortcut is when I click on them using Windows Explorer.
> The Native PostgreSQL port for Windows doesn't, and neither do a few
> other applications I tested.
>
> Would it be correct to say that the 'ln' command in the MS Resource Kit
> creates this kind of shortcut too, as the Reparse Points feature doesn't
> seem to be possible under NT4?
I wouldn't assume that. It's been years since I tested it, but back then,
the command line and all program I used could see the link created by ln
that came with the resource kit. They were distinctly different from the
shortcut type of links, in that they seems transparent like short cuts in
unix generally are.
Do you have the resource kit or the gnu utils from it?
Looking at this url:
http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/
the part for ln.exe says it makes real hard links on ntfs (which means
they would be on the same drive.) So I'm not sure if ntfs supports soft
links across volumes transparently or not now.
