Thanks for the excellent explanation of hard and soft links. I was the one who originally brought up the question, and my real quandary concerns ownership and permissions. Would you be willing to extend your description into that area? From your explanation, it would appear that in the case of a hard link, the ownership/permissions of whatever name was referenced would be the only one controlling the access, since the other directory entry wouldn't even get read. Am I right so far? But in the case of 'soft' or symbolic links, the link is a reference to the primary file name, so both directory entries get read when a reference is attempted thru the link. Which directory entry's ownership/permissions will control the access? My specific question dealt with symbolic links to device files, specifically /dev/cdrom -> /dev/scd0 and /dev/cdrecorder -> /dev/scd1. Also links to executables with suid/sgid bits set. Can you tell I'm having trouble getting my CD burner going? -- Rick Green "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin