[OS X TeX] An issue with the symlink /Library/teTeX

[Bruno Voisin]

A very odd thing I am faced with: I have two Macs, a PowerBook with OS 
X 10.3.6 and a PowerMac with OS X 10.2.8. Both have a single hard drive 
called "Macintosh HD". I've been connecting to the PowerMac from the 
PowerBook, using the Finder's Connect To Server and then the AFP 
protocol. My aim was to get the file wolfram.map from the older gwTeX 
setup I have on the PowerMac, to put it on the PowerBook.

But now, when connected to the remote computer (the PowerMac) I go to 
/Library/teTeX (a symlink to /usr/local/teTeX) I am suddenly brought 
back to the folder /usr/local/teTeX on my local computer (the 
PowerBook). Is this normal? I would assume this might have bad security 
implications.

Example: I go to the remote hard drive then to usr/local/teTeX, I find 
the old gwTeX setup from the remote computer:

legimc11:/usr/local/teTeX brunovoisin$ cd /Volumes/"Macintosh 
HD-1"/usr/local/teTeX
legimc11:/Volumes/Macintosh HD-1/usr/local/teTeX brunovoisin$ ls -l
total 128
lrwxrwxrwx   1 brunovoi  unknown    41 29 Jul  2003 
README.howtexfindsfiles -> share/texmf.gwtex/README.howtexfindsfiles
lrwxrwxrwx   1 brunovoi  unknown    45 18 Jun 14:16 
README.howtexfindsfiles.txt -> 
share/texmf.gwtex/README.howtexfindsfiles.txt
lrwxrwxrwx   1 brunovoi  unknown    36 29 Jul  2003 README.texmf.gwtex 
-> share/texmf.gwtex/README.texmf.gwtex
lrwxrwxrwx   1 brunovoi  unknown    40 18 Jun 14:16 
README.texmf.gwtex.txt -> share/texmf.gwtex/README.texmf.gwtex.txt
dr-xr-xr-x   6 brunovoi  unknown   264 18 Jun 14:21 bin
dr-xr-xr-x   3 brunovoi  unknown   264 18 Jun 14:21 include
dr-xr-xr-x  39 brunovoi  unknown  1282 18 Jun 14:21 info
dr-xr-xr-x   4 brunovoi  unknown   264 18 Jun 14:21 lib
dr-xr-xr-x   5 brunovoi  unknown   264 18 Jun 14:21 man
dr-xr-xr-x   7 brunovoi  unknown   264 18 Jun 14:21 share
-r--r--r--   1 brunovoi  unknown  3361 18 Jun 14:44 texmf.cnf
-r--r--r--   1 brunovoi  unknown  2631 24 Feb  2003 
texmf.cnf.20031120103642
-r--r--r--   1 brunovoi  unknown  3029 20 Nov  2003 
texmf.cnf.20040205170509
-r--r--r--   1 brunovoi  unknown  2549 21 Feb  2003 
texmf.gwtex.oldstructure

Now still on the remote hard drive I go to Library/teTeX, I find the 
recent gwTeX setup from the local computer:

legimc11:/Volumes/Macintosh HD-1/usr/local/teTeX brunovoisin$ cd 
../../../Library/teTeX
legimc11:/Volumes/Macintosh HD-1/Library/teTeX brunovoisin$ ls -l
total 32
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  admin   170 18 Nov 14:26 bin
drwxr-xr-x   3 root  admin   102 18 Nov 14:26 include
drwxr-xr-x  17 root  admin   578 18 Nov 14:26 info
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  admin   136 18 Nov 14:26 lib
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  admin   170 18 Nov 14:26 man
drwxr-xr-x   9 root  admin   306 18 Nov 14:26 share
-rw-r--r--   1 root  admin  3250 18 Nov 15:11 texmf.cnf
-rw-r--r--   1 root  admin  3250 29 Oct 01:59 texmf.cnf.20041029093033
-rw-r--r--   1 root  admin  3250 29 Oct 09:41 texmf.cnf.20041031163924
-rw-r--r--   1 root  admin  3250 31 Oct 16:52 texmf.cnf.20041118141331

Is there something obvious I've missed? Is this the normal behaviour of 
symlinks? Does this mean hard links should be used instead?

Bruno Voisin

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