Things to watch with aliases...

Oct 07, '01 02:10:25PM

Contributed by: Anonymous

I've discovered that X programs are prone to misbehavior when you make them try to operate on aliases.

The most painful example was when I tried replacing Exploder 5.1's bookmarks.html file with an alias to the one I used under 9... Exploder thought the file didn't exist, and wrote out its default bookmarks.html, which overwrote the original file! Luckily, I had a semi-backup and was able to rebuild from it.

Also, the Dock simply doesn't understand the concept of having an alias to a folder in the dock - after installing 'Classic Menu', I tried to replace the pseudo-apple items folder I had in the Dock with a link to Classic Menu's folder, and the Dock wouldn't do the click-and-hold thing that it does with an actual folder. It's fine with a folder full of aliases, and does the right thing there, but not when the folder itself is an alias.

So... while aliases are a traditional tool for managing different programs that need the same info, be very sure to back up any data you try to alias before testing, as it seems that X's support of them is not quite as transparant as 9's was.

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