Readonly xlink into folder in containing repo?

[gweronimo]

Hi! Is it possible to create a readonly partial xlink targeting a subfolder inside the same repo that contains this xlink?

I'm aware that I could separate code into multiple repos, but my scenario is the following:

* I have a few existing libraries (in subfolders) with years of history inside a single repo.
* In the subfolder of the main application inside the same repo, I'd want to add xlinks to bin-folders with pre-built binaries from the above libraries (pointing out a specific branch/changeset for each such bin-folder).
* I don't want to move the above libraries into separate repos, since that would break the line of history.
* Also, I'm interested in the technical limits of xlinks, simply knowing if they can be pointing inside the same repo. If so, they could be used as checked-in replacements for symlinks (on Windows)!

And another question: a partial xlink can only be created from the command line, but can it be edited from the GUI (without becoming non-partial) ?

Best regards,
Göran W.

[manu]

Hello @gweronimo,

I'm afraid it's not possible, you will get the following error message:

A repository cannot be loaded inside itself. The repository XXXXX@YYYYYY:8087 cannot be loaded on '/Temp/bin/Debug/testing' because it is already loaded on '/'.

The best option you have is pushing the repository (or a subset of it) into an external repository and use it as the target of your xlinks.

The other option of course is using symbolic links.