[int_19h]

Symlinks are a poor example, IMO. Yes, they need to be carefully handled for security reasons. But they also offer great flexibility that is actually widely used, and that wouldn't be available through other mechanisms.

[annnnd]

To paraphrase: Windows NUL is a poor example, IMO. Yes, it needs to be carefully handled for reasons. But it also offers great flexibility that is actually widely used, and that wouldn't be available through other mechanisms.

I rest my case. ;-)

[luca_ing]

While your reply is genuinely amusing (thank you), how is it actually true?

What do we gain from having NUL everywhere, as opposed to having it in only one specific location, e.g. root?

Also, as an aside, I thought it wasn't a magic file (nul), but rather a magic device (NUL:), which IMO makes a lot of sense.

[fnord123]

But that's just not true. They offer less flexibility that would be available through a special namespace prefix like /dev.

[leshow]

It doesn't offer great flexibility though. It has characteristics that made it useful on ancient versions of DOS and now it only offers annoyances that we have to deal with.