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I often have directories on a Linux server where symbolic links are used for alternative names for subdirectories or files (e.g. maintaining a "latest" symbolic link to a directory with the latest version, but also for things like "Philips" linking to "NXP/Historic")... but when seen by Samba clients (assuming symlinks are allowed to be followed) there is no hint the files in these directories are actually the same... even the inode numbers (when seen by another linux client using a samba share) make them look to be different.

My worry is that some person (or automated "delete duplicates" app) might try to delete one "copy" thinking there is still another file with the same contents, but deleting one would delete both copies because they are really the same file. I do want to allow read/write access to these files, but reduce the chance of mistakes. So far all I can think of is telling smb.conf not allow any symlinks, but perhaps what I'd like is to make symlinks look like shortcuts to Windows clients (which, I think, is impossible). Most people can be careful in obvious cases like the "latest" directory, but when there are lots of links in a shared area (and users are, correctly, periodically trying to clear away useless files), there is a need to reduce the chance of silly mistakes. Any ideas?

user235510
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Unfortunately, I think this is not possible. Windows LNK files are small binary files which containts the path to the true target, while Linux's symlink operate at a lower (libc) level. This means that Samba should "traduce" on the fly a Linux symlink into a LNK files; while theoretically possible with a VFS module, such a module does not exists (as from my understanding).

The best thing you can do is to deny access to symlinks by using the follow symlinks = no in your share definition.

shodanshok
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