Re: [O] Fwd: Mac OS Alias file links

[Charles Berry]

Ken Mankoff <mankoff <at> gmail.com> writes:

> 
> 
> On 2014-04-14 at 12:26, Achim Gratz wrote:
> > Ken Mankoff writes:
> >> Aliases are a type of links ("ln" on linux, "shortcut" on Windows
> >> "alias" on OS X (OS X of course also supports "ln")). The difference
> >> between an OS X alias and "ln" is that if the target is moved, the OS
> >> X alias still points to it, and double-clicking on an alias (or
> >> issuing the "open" command in a terminal) will open the target,
> >> wherever it is.
> >
[...]

> In my fantasy, the link wouldn't be to an alias file, it would *contain
> the alias* the way the BibDesk field does. Therefore C-o on an "alias:"
> link would require extra code: Decode the alias, then pass it off to the
> system.
> 

The point of using an alias rather than a filename or the name of a 
symbolic link that points to the file is that it inherits the property
of Mac OS X aliases that moving the file does not break the alias ---
it still points to file.

For this to work as you fantasize, you would need to enable the Finder 
application to modify the part of the *.org file that encodes the alias 
when you change the location of the aliased file just as the Finder 
does to the alias when the location of the aliased file is modified in the 
Finder.

That is a heavy lift.

OTOH, writing an AppleScript to make an alias in a folder that is never 
moved, writing elisp to call that script and then make an org-mode link to 
the alias just created might work for you.

HTH,

Chuck