dotnet · yufeih · Nov 11, 2023 · Nov 11, 2023
diff --git a/docs/reference/docfx-json-reference.md b/docs/reference/docfx-json-reference.md
@@ -185,10 +185,6 @@ Sets the max parallelism. Setting 0 (default) is the same as setting to the coun
 
 Sets the parameters for the markdown engine, value is a JSON object.
 
-### `keepFileLink`
-
-If set to true, docfx does not dereference (i.e., copy) the file to the output folder, instead, it saves a `link_to_path` property inside `manifest.json` to indicate the physical location of that file. A file link will be created by incremental build and copy resource file.
-
 ### `sitemap`
 
 Specifies the options for generating [sitemap.xml](https://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.html) file:

diff --git a/samples/extensions/docfx.json b/samples/extensions/docfx.json
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@
       "modern"
     ],
     "postProcessors": [],
-    "keepFileLink": false,
     "disableGitFeatures": false,
     "exportViewModel": true
   }

diff --git a/src/Docfx.App/Config/BuildJsonConfig.cs b/src/Docfx.App/Config/BuildJsonConfig.cs
@@ -218,14 +218,6 @@ internal class BuildJsonConfig
     [JsonPropertyName("groups")]
     public Dictionary<string, GroupConfig> Groups { get; set; }
 
-    /// <summary>
-    /// If set to true, docfx does not dereference (aka. copy) file to the output folder.
-    /// Instead, it saves a link_to_path property inside manifest.json to indicate the physical location of that file.
-    /// </summary>
-    [JsonProperty("keepFileLink")]
-    [JsonPropertyName("keepFileLink")]
-    public bool KeepFileLink { get; set; }
-
     /// <summary>
     /// Specifies the options for the sitemap.xml file.
     /// </summary>

diff --git a/src/Docfx.App/Helpers/DocumentBuilderWrapper.cs b/src/Docfx.App/Helpers/DocumentBuilderWrapper.cs
@@ -194,11 +194,6 @@ private static List<DocumentBuildParameters> ConfigToParameter(BuildJsonConfig c
 
         var fileMappingParametersDictionary = GroupFileMappings(config.Content, config.Overwrite, config.Resource);
 
-        if (config.KeepFileLink)
-        {
-            parameters.KeepFileLink = true;
-        }
-
         foreach (var pair in fileMappingParametersDictionary)
         {
             var p = parameters.Clone();

diff --git a/src/Docfx.Build/DocumentBuildParameters.cs b/src/Docfx.Build/DocumentBuildParameters.cs
@@ -43,8 +43,6 @@ public class DocumentBuildParameters
 
     public string CustomLinkResolver { get; set; }
 
-    public bool KeepFileLink { get; set; }
-
     public SitemapOptions SitemapOptions { get; set; }
 
     public bool DisableGitFeatures { get; set; }

diff --git a/src/Docfx.Build/DocumentBuilder.cs b/src/Docfx.Build/DocumentBuilder.cs
@@ -149,22 +149,7 @@ public void Build(IList<DocumentBuildParameters> parameters, string outputDirect
 
         _postProcessorsManager.Process(generatedManifest, outputDirectory);
 
-        if (parameters[0].KeepFileLink)
-        {
-            var count = (from f in generatedManifest.Files
-                         from o in f.Output
-                         select o.Value into v
-                         where v.LinkToPath != null
-                         select v).Count();
-            if (count > 0)
-            {
-                Logger.LogInfo($"Skip dereferencing {count} files.");
-            }
-        }
-        else
-        {
-            generatedManifest.Dereference(parameters[0].OutputBaseDir, parameters[0].MaxParallelism);
-        }
+        generatedManifest.Dereference(parameters[0].OutputBaseDir, parameters[0].MaxParallelism);
 
         // Save to manifest.json
         EnvironmentContext.FileAbstractLayerImpl =

diff --git a/src/docfx/Models/BuildCommand.cs b/src/docfx/Models/BuildCommand.cs
@@ -88,7 +88,6 @@ internal static void MergeOptionsToConfig(BuildCommandOptions options, BuildJson
 
         SetGlobalMetadataFromCommandLineArgs();
 
-        config.KeepFileLink |= options.KeepFileLink;
         config.DisableGitFeatures |= options.DisableGitFeatures;
 
         void SetGlobalMetadataFromCommandLineArgs()

diff --git a/src/docfx/Models/BuildCommandOptions.cs b/src/docfx/Models/BuildCommandOptions.cs
@@ -97,10 +97,6 @@ internal class BuildCommandOptions : LogOptions
     [TypeConverter(typeof(ArrayOptionConverter))]
     public IEnumerable<string> PostProcessors { get; set; }
 
-    [Description("If set to true, docfx does not dereference (aka. copy) file to the output folder, instead, it saves a link_to_path property inside manifest.json to indicate the physical location of that file.")]
-    [CommandOption("--keepFileLink")]
-    public bool KeepFileLink { get; set; }
-
     [Description("Disable fetching Git related information for articles. By default it is enabled and may have side effect on performance when the repo is large.")]
     [CommandOption("--disableGitFeatures")]
     public bool DisableGitFeatures { get; set; }

diff --git a/test/docfx.Tests/JsonConverterTest.cs b/test/docfx.Tests/JsonConverterTest.cs
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ public void TestJObjectDictionaryToObjectDictionaryConverterSerializeAndDeserial
                     "}" +
                 "}" +
             "}," +
-            "\"keepFileLink\":false," +
             "\"disableGitFeatures\":false" +
         "}";