hi..this is what I did..is this a bug? Kindly spare time to read thro..
I deleted the file softlnk and it mysteriously reappeared..
I could not duplicate the results with identical instruction steps.


[root@bpp170 /root]# ls -li
total 6736
255915 -rw------- 1 root root 6873088 Feb 28 16:33 core
255929 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 65 Feb 28 15:16 new
224241 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:28 ns_imap
129041 drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:27 nsmail
[root@bpp170 /root]# touch test
[root@bpp170 /root]# vi test
[root@bpp170 /root]# ln testhrdlnk test
ln: testhrdlnk: No such file or directory
[root@bpp170 /root]# ln test testhrdlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# ls -a
. .Xauthority .bash_logout .cshrc .gnome_private .new1.swp .tcshrc new test
.. .Xresources .bash_profile .gnome .mc .newsrc-news.jaring.my .xsession-errors ns_imap testhrdlnk
.ICEauthority .bash_history .bashrc .gnome-desktop .netscape .sawfish core nsmail
[root@bpp170 /root]# ls -li
total 6744
255915 -rw------- 1 root root 6873088 Feb 28 16:33 core
255929 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 65 Feb 28 15:16 new
224241 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:28 ns_imap
129041 drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:27 nsmail
255952 -rw-r--r-- 2 root root 80 Mar 1 09:21 test
255952 -rw-r--r-- 2 root root 80 Mar 1 09:21 testhrdlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# vi test
test testhrdlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# vi testhrdlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# cat test
sdfgdfgdfsdgdf
[root@bpp170 /root]# cat testhrdlnk
sdfgdfgdfsdgdf
[root@bpp170 /root]# rm test
rm: remove `test'? y
[root@bpp170 /root]# ls -i
255915 core 255929 new 224241 ns_imap 129041 nsmail 255952 testhrdlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# vi testhrdlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# rm testhrdlnk
rm: remove `testhrdlnk'? n
[root@bpp170 /root]# ls -i
255915 core 255929 new 224241 ns_imap 129041 nsmail 255952 testhrdlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# vi softlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# ls -il
total 6744
255915 -rw------- 1 root root 6873088 Feb 28 16:33 core
255929 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 65 Feb 28 15:16 new
224241 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:28 ns_imap
129041 drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:27 nsmail
255954 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17 Mar 1 09:27 softlnk
255952 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 15 Mar 1 09:23 testhrdlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# ln -s softlnk test
[root@bpp170 /root]# ls -i
255915 core 255929 new 224241 ns_imap 129041 nsmail 255954 softlnk 255953 test 255952 testhrdlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# ls -il
total 6744
255915 -rw------- 1 root root 6873088 Feb 28 16:33 core
255929 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 65 Feb 28 15:16 new
224241 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:28 ns_imap
129041 drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:27 nsmail
255954 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17 Mar 1 09:27 softlnk
255953 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Mar 1 09:28 test -> softlnk
255952 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 15 Mar 1 09:23 testhrdlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# vi test
[root@bpp170 /root]# vi test
[root@bpp170 /root]# vi softlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# rm softlnk
rm: remove `softlnk'? y
[root@bpp170 /root]# ls -il
total 6740
255915 -rw------- 1 root root 6873088 Feb 28 16:33 core
255929 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 65 Feb 28 15:16 new
224241 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:28 ns_imap
129041 drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:27 nsmail
255953 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Mar 1 09:28 test -> softlnk
255952 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 15 Mar 1 09:23 testhrdlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# vi test
[root@bpp170 /root]# ln -s testhrdlnk test
ln: test: File exists
[root@bpp170 /root]# rm test
rm: remove `test'? y
[root@bpp170 /root]# ls -il
total 6740
255915 -rw------- 1 root root 6873088 Feb 28 16:33 core
255929 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 65 Feb 28 15:16 new
224241 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:28 ns_imap
129041 drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:27 nsmail
255955 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar 1 09:29 softlnk
255952 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 15 Mar 1 09:23 testhrdlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# ls -il
total 6740
255915 -rw------- 1 root root 6873088 Feb 28 16:33 core
255929 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 65 Feb 28 15:16 new
224241 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:28 ns_imap
129041 drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:27 nsmail
255955 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar 1 09:29 softlnk
255952 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 15 Mar 1 09:23 testhrdlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# vi softlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# rm softlnk
rm: remove `softlnk'? y
[root@bpp170 /root]# vi softlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# ln -s softlnk test
[root@bpp170 /root]# vi test
[root@bpp170 /root]# rm softlnk
rm: remove `softlnk'? y
[root@bpp170 /root]# ls -il
total 6740
255915 -rw------- 1 root root 6873088 Feb 28 16:33 core
255929 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 65 Feb 28 15:16 new
224241 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:28 ns_imap
129041 drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:27 nsmail
255953 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Mar 1 09:31 test -> softlnk
255952 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 15 Mar 1 09:23 testhrdlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]# rm test
rm: remove `test'? y
[root@bpp170 /root]# ls -il
total 6740
255915 -rw------- 1 root root 6873088 Feb 28 16:33 core
255929 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 65 Feb 28 15:16 new
224241 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:28 ns_imap
129041 drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Feb 28 11:27 nsmail
255952 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 15 Mar 1 09:23 testhrdlnk
[root@bpp170 /root]#