SOFTIMAGE|3D provides a solution for handling symbolic links, which are frequently used in the IRIX and Linux environments. Symbolic links allow you to refer to the same path by two different names. By using them, one IRIX or Linux user can share out a path under one name that is used on other IRIX or Linux machines under a different name.
SOFTIMAGE|3D provides a mechanism to support sharing between the Windows environment and IRIX or Linux systems that use symbolic links. This is accomplished by means of a file called linktab.ini, which contains specifications for the links to IRIX or Linux files. The linktab.ini file must exist in the directory in which SOFTIMAGE|3D is installed, as specified by the %SI_LOCATION% environment variable.
When you request an IRIX or Linux file that is mounted on Windows, SOFTIMAGE|3D automatically searches for linktab.ini. If this file is present, SOFTIMAGE|3D uses the path data it contains to find the requested file.
Your Windows System Administrator can enter the appropriate path data by either creating or editing the linktab.ini file. The file data specifies the rules that SOFTIMAGE|3D uses based on the file names and path names that are mounted by the IRIX system.
The linktab.ini file is case-sensitive for all path and file names, including Windows. This means that all path and file names must be written in this file exactly as they are on the systems.
The format and syntax for linktab.ini are as follows:
# comment
<mount_spec> <locally_used_name>
<mount_spec> : : = <host> ":" <export_name> ["!"<path_name>]
where:
<host> is the IRIX machine host name.
":" is a separator between <host> and <export_name>.
<export_name> is the path exported by the IRIX or Linux host.
"!" is a separator between <export_name> and <path_name>.
<path> is an optional path under the exported path.
<locally_used_name> is the symbolically linked name used by the software.
The following are some examples that illustrate these concepts.
Case 1
Two or more IRIX machines export a share by the same name. For example, the IRIX machine "hales" exports the path share. The IRIX machine "redhook" also exports the path share.
On IRIX, the path redhook:/share is mounted as:
/share1and hales:/share is mounted as /share2. The share points are exported using the same name, but they are differentiated by the host name when they are mounted.
This case is handled by entries in the linktab.ini file as follows:
redhook:/share /share1
hales:/share /share2
Case 2
In this case, an exported share point is mounted as one name and symbolically linked to another name. Either name is used to access the file. For example, the IRIX machine "courage" exports the share sharept/files, which is mounted by IRIX machines as /cour/share and then is symbolically linked as /usr/Databases.
This case is handled by entries in the linktab.ini file as follows:
courage:/sharept/files /cour/share
courage:/sharept/files /usr/Databases
Case 3
This case can occur when the NFS auto-mounter is used on IRIX systems to resolve home directory references. For example, the IRIX machine "fullsail" exports its home directory as hales:/home/fullsail. The machine "courage" exports its home directory as:
courage:/home/courage
User accounts are automounted as /user/brad, /user/jen, and
/user/adam, although they are "really"
hales:/home/hales/user/brad, hales:/home/hales/user/jen, and courage:/home/courage/user/adam
This case is handled by entries in the linktab.ini file as follows:
hales:/home/hales!/user/brad /user/brad
hales:/home/hales!/user/jen /user/jen
courage:/home/courage!/user/adam /user/adam
In this case, the "!" character is used as a separator to distinguish the NFS mount name from a path within the mount point.
Not all vendors of PC/NFS software use the same syntax for <mount_spec>. Some vendors use the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) such as \\machine_name\mount_name, and others use an IRIX style such as machine_name: path_name. To learn the exact syntax used in your linktab.ini, refer to your PC/NFS provider documentation.
Entering Path Data in linktab.ini
You can enter path data in the linktab.ini file using an ASCII text editor such as Notepad or jot.
The linktab.ini file is case-sensitive for all path and file names, including Windows. This means that all path and file names must be written in this file exactly as they are on the systems.
1. If linktab.ini already exists in the same directory as your SOFTIMAGE|3D program files as specified by the %SI_LOCATION% environment variable, double-click on it in File Manager. If the file doesn’t exist, start Notepad by double-clicking on its icon (by default, in the Accessories program group).
2. Enter path data.
3. Save the file as text. If the file is new, you must save it as linktab.ini in the same directory as your SOFTIMAGE|3D program files.