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docs/concept: symbolic link support FAQ
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This adds an FAQ page on CUE's now-formalised support for symbolic
links, as per https://cuelang.org/issue/3300#issuecomment-2429401231.

Closes cue-lang/docs-and-content#187.

Preview-Path: /docs/concept/faq/symbolic-link-support/
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Matthews <[email protected]>
Change-Id: If8f735118d92d1e9918f73a3597262c214377ff0
Dispatch-Trailer: {"type":"trybot","CL":1203884,"patchset":9,"ref":"refs/changes/84/1203884/9","targetBranch":"master"}
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jpluscplusm authored and cueckoo committed Dec 5, 2024
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44 changes: 44 additions & 0 deletions content/docs/concept/faq/symbolic-link-support/en.md
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---
title: Symbolic link support in CUE
author: [jpluscplusm]
toc_hide: false
---

Both the `cue` command and the CUE Go API support
[symbolic links](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_link)
("symlinks") on operating systems where the feature is available.
However, symlinks are ignored when they are part of a CUE module published to
a module registry.

This guide answers some questions about CUE's support for symlinks.

## Can I use symlinks to help organise my CUE code?

**Yes**.
When writing your own CUE code you can rely on CUE to respect any filesystem
symlinks you put in place.
This includes establishing symlinks that create:

- CUE files (e.g. `file.cue` links to `some.other.file`)
- package directories (e.g. `foo/` links to `bar/`)
- data files that are included via the
[`@embed()` attribute]({{< relref "/docs/howto/embed-files-in-cue-evaluation" >}})
(e.g. `data.json` links to `../../../some.data`)

## Can I include symlinks when publishing a CUE module?

**No**.
When the `cue mod publish` command publishes a module to a registry,
it silently ignores any symlinks contained in the module.
Any symlinks are left in place locally (on the computer that publishes the
module) but they will not be present in the published module.

## Can I depend on a CUE module that relies on symlinks?

**No**.
When the `cue` command fetches and unpacks a module from a registry, it
doesn't create any symlinks that it finds in the module.
If any CUE contained in a published module relies on the presence of symlinks
to work correctly then it will not work as expected after being unpacked.
CUE's behaviour when it finds symlinks in published modules is undefined,
but will not result in a working symlink being created in any case.
3 changes: 3 additions & 0 deletions content/docs/concept/faq/symbolic-link-support/page.cue
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package site

content: docs: concept: faq: "symbolic-link-support": page: _
44 changes: 44 additions & 0 deletions hugo/content/en/docs/concept/faq/symbolic-link-support/index.md
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---
title: Symbolic link support in CUE
author: [jpluscplusm]
toc_hide: false
---

Both the `cue` command and the CUE Go API support
[symbolic links](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_link)
("symlinks") on operating systems where the feature is available.
However, symlinks are ignored when they are part of a CUE module published to
a module registry.

This guide answers some questions about CUE's support for symlinks.

## Can I use symlinks to help organise my CUE code?

**Yes**.
When writing your own CUE code you can rely on CUE to respect any filesystem
symlinks you put in place.
This includes establishing symlinks that create:

- CUE files (e.g. `file.cue` links to `some.other.file`)
- package directories (e.g. `foo/` links to `bar/`)
- data files that are included via the
[`@embed()` attribute]({{< relref "/docs/howto/embed-files-in-cue-evaluation" >}})
(e.g. `data.json` links to `../../../some.data`)

## Can I include symlinks when publishing a CUE module?

**No**.
When the `cue mod publish` command publishes a module to a registry,
it silently ignores any symlinks contained in the module.
Any symlinks are left in place locally (on the computer that publishes the
module) but they will not be present in the published module.

## Can I depend on a CUE module that relies on symlinks?

**No**.
When the `cue` command fetches and unpacks a module from a registry, it
doesn't create any symlinks that it finds in the module.
If any CUE contained in a published module relies on the presence of symlinks
to work correctly then it will not work as expected after being unpacked.
CUE's behaviour when it finds symlinks in published modules is undefined,
but will not result in a working symlink being created in any case.

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