> The users who expect a symlink to trick a cloud service into special behaviour (like syncing folders elsewhere) are also wrong.
I use neither Dropbox nor Unison, but on the treatment of symbolic links, every program that somehow manages files have some sort of configuration option to decide whether or not to follow symbolic links. It's not about tricking a service into special behaviour. It's just that either handling by following or not following the links are both appropriate behaviour in different situations.
In the case of Unison, it chooses not to follow by default, but it also can be configured to follow as described here:
Furthermore, when the destination host is a Windows system, Unison refuses to not to follow a symbolic link, since Windows doesn't support symbolic links.
I use neither Dropbox nor Unison, but on the treatment of symbolic links, every program that somehow manages files have some sort of configuration option to decide whether or not to follow symbolic links. It's not about tricking a service into special behaviour. It's just that either handling by following or not following the links are both appropriate behaviour in different situations.
In the case of Unison, it chooses not to follow by default, but it also can be configured to follow as described here:
https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/download/releases...
Furthermore, when the destination host is a Windows system, Unison refuses to not to follow a symbolic link, since Windows doesn't support symbolic links.