Alias mac os x terminal how to#
Alias mac os x terminal for mac os x#

Time Machine uses hard links to reference items that have not changed since the previous backup, thus saving a tremendous amount of space. An example use of hard links in Lion is for Time Machine backups. The Finder cannot create hard links, but it can follow them.

You can also use the ln command to create hard links. A hard link is an additional name that points to the same bits on the physical drive. Think of a normal file as two parts first, the bits on the physical drive that make up the file’s actual content, and second, a name that points to those bits.

Hard Links-These shortcuts are also part of the traditional UNIX file system and are actual additional references to the original item.

An example use of symbolic links in Lion is the way the system layout stores several fundamental UNIX folders in the /private folder but also makes those items available at the root of the file system using symbolic links. The Finder cannot create symbolic links, but it can follow them to the original item. You can create symbolic links with the ln command. However, replacing the original item works because the path remains the same. Thus, if you move the original item, the symbolic link will be broken.

Symbolic Links-These shortcuts are part of the traditional UNIX file system and are simple pointers to the file system path of the original item.

The Finder populates the burn folder with aliases instead of copies of the original items in order to save space. An example of how aliases are used by the operating system is the Finder’s Burn Folder feature, which allows you to organize files before you burn them to an optical disc. Aliases, however, are more resilient than other shortcut types in that if the original item is replaced or moved, the alias will almost never lose the original item.

Alias mac os x terminal how to#

Command-line tools think that aliases are nothing more than data files and do not know how to follow their references back to the original items. Aliases can be created with the Finder but are useless in Terminal.

Alias mac os x terminal for mac os x#

Aliases-These shortcuts are a holdover from the classic Mac OS but have been updated for Mac OS X duties.

Lion uses three primary file system shortcut types:

Both the Dock and Finder save their references to original items as part of their configuration files, whereas file system shortcuts appear as individual files that can be located anywhere on a volume. Do not confuse the shortcuts found in the Dock or the Finder’s sidebar with true file system shortcuts.