-.\" $OpenBSD: symlink.7,v 1.10 2000/03/23 21:10:22 aaron Exp $
+.\" $OpenBSD: symlink.7,v 1.11 2000/03/24 03:28:37 aaron Exp $
.\" $NetBSD: symlink.7,v 1.4 1996/04/25 15:44:56 mycroft Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 1992, 1993, 1994
.Sh NAME
.Nm symlink
.Nd symbolic link handling
-.Sh SYMBOLIC LINK HANDLING
+.Sh DESCRIPTION
Symbolic links are files that act as pointers to other files.
To understand their behavior, you must first understand how hard links
work.
(either specified on the command line or encountered as part of the
file hierarchy walk).
.El
-.Ss System calls.
+.Ss System calls
The first area is symbolic links used as file name arguments for
system calls.
.Pp
system call was added later when the limitations of the new
.Xr chown 2
became apparent.
-.Ss Commands not traversing a file tree.
+.Ss Commands not traversing a file tree
The second area is symbolic links, specified as command-line file
name arguments, to commands which are not traversing a file tree.
.Pp
option is specified,
or if the
.Fl F ,
-.Fl d
+.Fl d ,
or
.Fl l
options are not specified.
.Bx 4.4
system differs from historical 4BSD systems in that the
.Nm chown ,
-.Nm chgrp
+.Nm chgrp ,
and
.Nm file
commands follow symbolic links specified on the command line.
-.Ss Commands traversing a file tree.
+.Ss Commands traversing a file tree
The following commands either optionally or always traverse file trees:
.Xr chflags 1 ,
.Xr chgrp 1 ,
.Xr ls 1 ,
.Xr pax 1 ,
.Xr rm 1 ,
-.Xr tar 1
+.Xr tar 1 ,
and
.Xr chown 8 .
.Pp
.Pp
For commands that do not by default do file tree traversals, the
.Fl H ,
-.Fl L
+.Fl L ,
and
.Fl P
flags are ignored if the
flag is not also specified.
In addition, you may specify the
.Fl H ,
-.Fl L
+.Fl L ,
and
.Fl P
options more than once; the last one specified determines the
.Nm rm
command does not support the
.Fl H ,
-.Fl L
+.Fl L ,
or
.Fl P
options.