HardLinkIdentitySupplier

All Known Implementing Classes:

PlexusIoFileResource, PlexusIoSymlinkResource
```
public interface HardLinkIdentitySupplier
```
Optional identity for resources whose contents can share one hard-link payload. Implementations must return null when transformation or a replacement content supplier invalidates that relationship. Equal identities must denote the same content within a stable source, not merely equal bytes from unrelated files. Consumers must also compare the metadata they intend to write.

Since:

3.7.1

Method Summary

All Methods Instance Methods Abstract Methods
Modifier and Type	Method	Description
`java.lang.Object`	`getHardLinkIdentity()`	Returns a source-scoped identity suitable for equality comparisons.

- Method Detail
  - getHardLinkIdentity
```
java.lang.Object getHardLinkIdentity()
                              throws java.io.IOException
```
    Returns a source-scoped identity suitable for equality comparisons. Identities must only be cached for the duration of one archive operation.
    
    Returns:
    
    the content identity, or null when preservation cannot be guaranteed
    
    Throws:
    
    java.io.IOException - if source attributes cannot be read