Java.Streams.Why do we need symbolic links ?

🧠 Why You Might Want a Symbolic Link

Let’s say you have:

/home/stanley/projects/common/config.json

And you’re working in multiple projects that all need this config:

/home/stanley/projects/projectA
/home/stanley/projects/projectB

Rather than copy config.json into each project (and update it in three places), you just do:

ln -s ../common/config.json config.json

Now your projects reference the same file, and updating one updates all.

✅ Use case: Shared resources, centralized configs

Sometimes a directory has a deep path:

/mnt/storage/sandbox/experimental/v1/data/

You can just create a symlink:

ln -s /mnt/storage/sandbox/experimental/v1/data ~/mydata

Now ~/mydata gives you quick access to a long, buried path.

✅ Use case: Shortcuts for convenience, shell access, scripting

In a development environment:

lib/ → symbolic link to lib-v1/

You want to test a new version of your code:

ln -snf lib-v2/ lib/

Boom — without changing any code, all files that use lib/ now point to version 2.

✅ Use case: Plugin systems, hot-swapping, testing environments

In apps or test environments, you may need a path like:

/etc/myapp/config.yaml

But you don’t want to mess with actual /etc, so you:

ln -s ~/myapp/config.yaml /etc/myapp/config.yaml

Now everything works, but you’re safely working in your home directory.

✅ Use case: Development, sandboxing, Docker volumes, etc.

If you rename or relocate a file for organization:

mv README.txt docs/README.txt

You can still make the old path work:

ln -s docs/README.txt README.txt

✅ Use case: Avoid breaking scripts/tools/people that still expect the old path

Benefit	Description
Reuse	Avoid duplicating files across projects
Flexibility	Swap resources or libraries without changing code
Convenience	Access long/deep paths with short names
Compatibility	Maintain old paths after renaming/moving files
Simplicity	Centralized config or test data redirection

If you’ve ever:

👉 Then symlinks are your best friend.