The name is a URL, or a name to be resolved relative to the initial context, or if the first character of the name is ".", the name is relative to the context in which the link is bound.

Normal resolution of names in context operations always follow links. Resolution of the link name itself may cause resolution to pass through other links. This gives rise to the possibility of a cycle of links whose resolution could not terminate normally. As a simple means to avoid such non-terminating resolutions, service providers may define limits on the number of links that may be involved in any single operation invoked by the caller.

A LinkRef contains a single StringRefAddr, whose type is "LinkAddress", and whose contents is the link name. The class name field of the Reference is that of this (LinkRef) class.

LinkRef is bound to a name using the normal Context.bind()/rebind(), and DirContext.bind()/rebind(). Context.lookupLink() is used to retrieve the link itself if the terminal atomic name is bound to a link.

Many naming systems support a native notion of link that may be used within the naming system itself. JNDI does not specify whether there is any relationship between such native links and JNDI links.

A LinkRef instance is not synchronized against concurrent access by multiple threads. Threads that need to access a LinkRef instance concurrently should synchronize amongst themselves and provide the necessary locking.