981: Porn Folder
explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
| Porn Folder |
 Title text: Eww, gross, you modified link()? How could you enjoy abusing a filesystem like that? |
[edit] Explanation
In this comic, Cueball seems to have found a porn folder. However, it contains a directory loop, set up by a person off-screen. It is possible to actually do this, but it is widely regarded as a very bad idea, as it can break the system in not-so-obvious ways (mostly by causing seemingly-trivial operations to infinite loop). It would seem that violating this taboo is what turns him on.
link() is the Linux system call to create a hard link. In an unmodified Linux kernel, it will not allow directory hard links for this exact reason; the person who set up the porn folder apparently "forced" Linux to comply, with all of the sexual analogies that suggests.
[edit] Transcript
- [A person sits at a desk, looking at a laptop screen with one hand on his chin.]
- Person: So I thought I found your porn folder, in calendar/backup/PORN
- --
- Person #2 (off screen): Don't open that!
- [A wider shot of the person looking at the laptop.]
- Person #1: But it contains a bunch more folders, filled with more folders, and then... after 20 levels, somehow I'm back at the main folder?
- Person #2 (off screen): It's, uh, well hidden.
- [The person has turned around in the chair, now with the laptop in his lap.]
- Person #1: I think there's no actual porn here. - You're just turned on by filesystems.
- Person #2 (off screen): It's a hardlinked directory loop -- so taboo!
- Person #1: Now I feel dirty sharing a drive with you.
add a comment!Discussion
Its not difficult to do that.
