bln

A Unix-like ln command with a better interface

I regularly use the Unix ln command, mainly to create symbolic links for configuration files that are supposed to live in folders scattered under the home directory, but that actually live grouped in a "dotfiles" folder that I keep under version control.

The problem: if I want to create a link A that points to B, I can never remember if I'm supposed to type ln -s A B or ln -s B A.

After studying the flags over args discussion, I thought that I could develop a project t develop a better interface for ln. Enter bln:

bln -s --link-name A --link-to B

This makes is clear: file A is a link that points to an existing file B.

bln does not support all of ln flags, but it does accept the -s (or --symbolic) flag to create symbolic links; if omitted, hard links are created (which, among other things, cannot be applied to directories).

Run bln --help for full instructions.

To be clear: this is a toy project mainly to help me improve my Go skills - but it is coded carefully, and solves a real problem!

Installation

You need the Go toolchain installed.

go install github.com/fabiofortkamp/bln@main

This will install the command under $GOBIN (which should be on your $PATH).