A directory tree that contains mostly symbolic links to files in a master directory tree of files. Link farms save space when one is maintaining several nearly identical copies of the same source tree - for example, when the only difference is architecture-dependent object files. They also mean that changes to the master tree are instantly visible in the link farm. Good text editors provide the option to replace a link with a new version of the target file when saving thus allowing the farm to have its own versions of just those files that differ from the master tree. E.g. "Let' s freeze the source and then rebuild the FROBOZZ-3 and FROBOZZ-4 link farms." Link farms may also be used to get around restrictions on the number of "-I" (include-file directory) arguments on older C preprocessors. However, they can also get completely out of hand, becoming the file system equivalent of spaghetti code. [Jargon File] (2001-02-08)
