If you use a UDC to alias PURGE to PURGELINK, this problem should go away.
The PURGELINK command will not follow the link to the underlying object.
 
Sam Calvert ([log in to unmask]) wrote:
:      Not long ago I thought that using symbolic links might be a good way to
:      save some disc space for MPE-named files which, because they are
:      referenced by fname.group, are mirrored in a number of different
:      accounts.  Well, as the following exercise shows, I decided that the
:      potential to inadvertantly :PURGE the master data file instead of the
:      symbolic link did not justify the savings in disc space.
 
:      shell/iX> echo data > DATAFILE
:      shell/iX> ln -s DATAFILE DATALINK
:      shell/iX> ls -l
:      total 1
:      -rw-rw----   1 ... DATAFILE
:      lrwxrwxrwx   1 ... DATALINK -> DATAFILE
:      shell/iX> rm DATALINK
:      shell/iX> ls -l
:      total 1
:      -rw-rw----   1 ... DATAFILE
 
:      _just what I expected, but then I tried:_
 
:      shell/iX> ln -s DATAFILE DATALINK
:      shell/iX> callci PURGE DATALINK (or :PURGE DATALINK from the CI)
:      shell/iX> ls -l
:      total 0
:      lrwxrwxrwx   1 ... DATALINK -> DATAFILE
 
:      _the result was not what I wanted at all!_