What does Symlink Unity Libraries do?

[Statement]

What does Symlink Unity Libraries mean and do? It’s found as a checkbox in build settings. I would be happy with a little better description than the reference currently provide.

• What is it for?
• Why would I use it?
• Why wouldn’t I use it?

[LoungeKatt]

Symlink Unity libraries creates a link to the original core libraries that are already built on the Unity side of the project. This is similar to how some plugin files link back to the copies in the project. By linking the files, rather than exporting them, you save the time of having to copy and process the files during a build export.

You do not need to turn this off or on depending on the App Store submission. It is best to have it off when saving an export that you intend to build on another machine (where the links will no longer be present), for exporting a project to a folder with version tracking (ie a git repository of the exported project), or other cases where a link would not survive (such as storing the export on an external drive).

It is also good practice to disable the link when debugging any issue that may have resulted from stale files, as it ensures the files are rebuilt when exporting the project.

[Statement]

After IRC discussions it seems that symlinking is simply avoiding copying unity libraries to the device for quicker testing cycles. Instead, a sort of shortcut to the file is being made. So you would use it while developing to minimize transfer times to the device for efficient work flow.

Note: This is based on some guesswork and doesn’t have any guarantees to be true.

[system]

so for a release in the appstore i should turn this on? i’m still confused!

[Mostley]

http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/ScriptReference/BuildOptions.SymlinkLibraries.html

seems to support Statements guesswork.

[jerryJJJJJJJJJJJJJ]

why is Symlink Unity Libraries doesn’t have the checkbox in build settings ?
Android doesn’t need it ?