X-Git-Url: http://sjero.net/git/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fwget.texi;h=c61e0c7b7c8f642674814de2d60db2ffb833484f;hb=cbf018d0c041f0939f9b232ddc06b5dbf9e8c9a7;hp=b23b13e27ef1c55456f4774003baeb691dd9cb82;hpb=2358c437c54acead1fbf52653b67d86f050c878b;p=wget

diff --git a/doc/wget.texi b/doc/wget.texi
index b23b13e2..c61e0c7b 100644
--- a/doc/wget.texi
+++ b/doc/wget.texi
@@ -818,10 +818,24 @@ Wget as Mozilla.
 @section FTP Options
 
 @table @samp
-@cindex retrieve symbolic links
+@cindex symbolic links, retrieving
 @item --retr-symlinks
-Retrieve symbolic links on @sc{ftp} sites as if they were plain files,
-i.e. don't just create links locally.
+Usually, when retrieving @sc{ftp} directories recursively and a symbolic
+link is encountered, the linked-to file is not downloaded.  Instead, a
+matching symbolic link is created on the local filesystem.  The
+pointed-to file will not be downloaded unless this recursive retrieval
+would have encountered it separately and downloaded it anyway.
+
+When @samp{--retr-symlinks} is specified, however, symbolic links are
+traversed and the pointed-to files are retrieved.  At this time, this
+option does not cause wget to traverse symlinks to directories and
+recurse through them, but in the future it should be enhanced to do
+this.
+
+Note that when retrieving a file (not a directory) because it was
+specified on the commandline, rather than because it was recursed to,
+this option has no effect.  Symbolic links are always traversed in this
+case.
 
 @cindex globbing, toggle
 @item -g on/off