Patent ID: 7516422

Claim:
A method of graphical display of hierarchical hardlinks to files in a file system, the method comprising: identifying multiple hardlinks for a file, wherein a hardlink comprises a link to a file directly mapping the file into a namespace, further comprising: following a pointer from a file having multiple hardlinks to a list of hardlinks to the file by following a Master Hardlink Pointer which is contained in the file and provides a pointer to the hardlink list for the file; and traversing the list for identification of multiple hardlinks; displaying relationships among the multiple hardlinks and the file, comprising: displaying at least one icon representing the file and representing the number of hardlinks to the file; and displaying a distinctive icon representing each hardlink to the file having multiple hardlinks; providing a list of hardlinks to the file and providing in the file a pointer to the list; providing an option to rename the hardlinks to the file via a rename all button, including: receiving from a user a new filename; following a pointer from the file having multiple hardlinks to a list of hardlinks to the file by following a Master Hardlink Pointer which is contained in the file and provides a pointer to the hardlink list for the file; and assigning the new name to the hardlinks in the list; providing an option to display the pathnames of the hardlinks to the file via a list aliases or view aliases button, including: following a pointer from the file having multiple hardlinks to a list of hardlinks to the file by following a Master Hardlink Pointer which is contained in the file and provides a pointer to the hardlink list for the file; retrieving a name from the hardlink for each hardlink in the list; and traversing the hierarchy to its root to retrieve a path for the hardlink for each hardlink in the list; and providing an option to delete a file having multiple hardlinks via a delete all button, including: following a pointer from the file having multiple hardlinks to a list of hardlinks to the file by following a Master Hardlink Pointer which is contained in the file and provides a pointer to the hardlink list for the file; and deleting all the hardlinks in the list.