Subject: Re: bug#8419: cp -au : New hard links in source becomes new files at destination when using cp -au

From: Jim Meyering <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:20:45 +0200

Voelker, Bernhard wrote:
> Jim Meyering wrote:
> +        create_hard_link:;
>
> Is there a specific reason for the additional empty statement?
>
> Also seen in:
>   find . -name '*.c' | xargs grep ':;'
>   ./src/head.c:    free_mem:;
>   ./src/kill.c: no_more_options:;
>   ./src/od.c:cleanup:;
>   ./src/paste.c: done:;
>   ./src/printf.c:        no_more_flag_characters:;

Yes.
It won't compile without that, since the thing right after
it is a declaration, and not a statement.