You may be right... The "hard" path to my project is /media/sda6/wxDev/proj... but I normally access it via ~/work/wxDev/proj... as work is pointing to /media/sda6 (I have a dual boot win/linux setup and "work" is the common name for this partition on both systems, using a disk label on Win and a symlink on Linux). I have not noticed the paths associated with the different files, I shall certainly check when the problem occurs again. It will for sure, this happens all the time. It looks like the same problem.
How about stripping the path from such files and compare the names? Or maybe it is possible to check the path for symlinks?
It is certainly an annoying thing, and not easy to understand. I might try to access it using the "hard" path and see if that helps, but I suspect this will affect a few of users.
If your kernel is newer then 2.4.0 you can use mount instead of ln.
I just tested it on my debian-system and it works.
Here is a part of the mount manual:
Since Linux 2.4.0 it is possible to remount part of the file hierarchy somewhere else. The call is
mount --bind olddir newdir
After this call the same contents is accessible in two places. One can also remount a single file (on a single file).
This call attaches only (part of) a single filesystem, not possible submounts. The entire file hierarchy including submounts is attached a second place
using
mount --rbind olddir newdir
Note that the filesystem mount options will remain the same as those on the original mount point, and cannot be changed by passing the -o option along with
--bind/--rbind.
If you are a normal user, you might need to use sudo mount --bind olddir newdir
If you are a normal user, you might need to use sudo mount --bind olddir newdir
or put olddir newdir none user,bind
in /etc/fstab