Introduction

Make Symlink is a Mac OS X-compatible contextual menu plugin which allow users to create unix-styled symbolic links. Symbolic links, known as symlinks, resemble standard Mac OS X's aliases. The system generally treats a symlink as it does with an alias. While aliases do not work with either Mac OS X unix terminal or remote clients, e.g. FTP and Samba, symlinks are still working without any problem. However, Mac users must create a symlink through the unfamiliar unix terminal, so making a symlink is nearly impractical. By using the graphic interface of Make Symlink, users can make symlinks to various objects more easily. Destinations folders for created symlinks will appear on hierarchical menus, i.e. entire hard disk will be listed on the menus, and users can browse to any level of the hard disk. It also helps to organize files and perform server maintenance. Make Symlink fully supports unicode texts, so it can list object's names which contain several text encodings, including those for the Asian languages.

Features

• Easy way to create unix-styled symbolic links.
• Destinations are listed on hierarchical menus with unlimited depth.
• Destinations can also be folders which are located on a mounted remote volume.
• Can display the parent folder of selected items.
• Can memorize recently used folders.
• Customizable, i.e. users can add frequently used folders into the menus.
• Support unicode characters.
• Support both Apple's Aqua and Apple's Metal interfaces.
• Edit symbolic links using the Symlink Editor.
• Ability to copy the path of the selected object to the clipboard.
• Have more than 30 useful preferences.

About Symbolic Links

Symbolic links, also known as symlinks, are unix equivalent to Mac OS X's Aliases or Windows' Shortcut. Symlink is really a file which points to any object on the file system. Mac OS X will manipulate the symlinks as it does with the originals, e.g. if you double-click on the symlink, the system will open the original object. On the Finder, you cannot differentiate an alias from a symlink because they have same Finder appearance, and you can use them interchangeable. Moreover, you may notice that most aliases of the system are actually the symlinks, not the simple aliases. To create simple aliases, please try Move Items X.

Advantages of symlinks
On Finder, the symlink will act as a simple alias. However, a simple Mac alias will no longer function on real unix, file sharing system (including Window File Sharing, FTP, HTTP, Samba, and Apache), and most putative file system (including ISO 9660 CD, BeOS, and Windows' NTFS)

Example
If you put a simple Mac alias of your photo album in the Public folder inside your home folder, i.e. path ~/Public/Photo album. Then let your friends connect to your computer either via FTP client or Windows - Samba client to download your photos. You will find that your friends cannot download your photos because those clients recognize the alias as a simple file not a link anymore. To solve this problem, use the symlink instead of a simple alias.

Other advantages
- Symlinks, but not simple aliases, work will on ISO 9660 CD with joliet name format.
- Good shortcut when working with unix Terminal.
- Size of symlinks is very small, about 4 KB.

Symlink Editor

Symlink Editor can be accessed from the Interface menu of the Make Symlink Enabler. It allows users to open symlink files and edit them by using the Open Symlink button. It also allows users to choose a file and create a symlink to that file. In addition, users can create a symlink manually by entering a path of a file or folder in the editing box. Moreover, users can enter a path using the contextual menu, i.e. just right-click on the Symlink Editor and select a target from the menu.

The key features of the Symlink Editor are:

• Open and edit a symlink
• Create a symlink of a selected file
• Create a symlink manually by entering a path of a file
• Symlink Editor handles either visible or invisible items.
• Symlink Editor window supports contextual menu.

Launch Items X and Make Symlink

Launch Items X, a set of contextual menu items and menu extra, allows users to access entire file system on hierarchical menus. With the editor of Launch Items X, Make Symlink users can append any customized folders to the end of the Make Symlink's menus.

Make a symlink in a newly created folder

Make Symlink allows users to create a new folder, and then make a symlink into that folder. This command will help users to organize the objects' shortcuts, especially for the web and FTP servers.

Make Symlink has 3 ways to create new folders for this function:

• Use "Create Default Location" command : Folder is created automatically.
• Use "Create New Folder" command : There is a dialog which asks users to enter the folder name.
• Use "Option" key + click on any menu hierarchy : This function will create a new folder inside the folder pointed to by the clicked menu.

The name of default location is set from the Advanced Preferences window, depicted below. There are three name formats.

• Name only : e.g. "My Pictures"
• Name plus current date : e.g. "My Pictures Apr 26, 2004"
• Current date only : e.g. "Monday, April 26, 2004"

Display the package contents

This is useful for a developer or anyone who want to edit the package contents. Supported packages are app, nib, rtdf, and pkg packages. On the other hand, users who do not want to see the package contents, i.e. want to see it as a file, can turn off this option from the Advanced Preferences window.

Display recently used folders

Make Symlink has an option to display recently used folders. The list of these folders will appear on the root menu for easy access. Newly visited folders will be listed on the upper part of the Recent Folders menu. Users can customize the amount of recent folders, clear the record, or turn off this option from the Advanced Preferences window.

Requirement

• Mac OS X 10.3 or later
• Tiger compatible
• The CM module supports both PowerPC and Intel Mac (universal binary).

Language support

• English : by Narattaphol Charoenphandhu (naratt@naratt.com)
• French : by Jean-Jacques Cortes (jjcortes@wanadoo.fr | Website)

If you want to translate Make Symlink for Mac OS X, please contact me at: naratt@naratt.com

Registration

Make Symlink is a shareware.

• Single user license US$ 14.00
• Site license US$ 120.00

Download

Make Symlink 1.1.6 (1.3 MB)

If you have problems about Make Symlink, please e-mail me at: naratt@naratt.com

Updated: April 15, 2006