How to snap a path to a node in Inkscape?

Question

By enabling snapping to path and snapping to nodes in Inkscape I can, for example, snap a corner of a rectangle to a line by moving the rectangle towards the line.

But it doesn't work the other way around. If I move the line towards the rectangle, it won't snap to a corner. In this case I could first move the rectangle until it snaps and then move both objects to the rectangle's original place to achieve the desired result.

I could proceed similarly when needing to rotate the line until it snaps and instead rotating the rectangle first and then rotate both objects back by the same angle. But if I need to scale a potentially complex object until it snaps to a corner of a rectangle or any other node, there is no easy workaround.

Is there a solution to also make paths snap to nodes, instead of just the other way around?

Is there an efficient workaround in cases where an object has to be scaled?

Update:

There is a workaround for scaling in case of proportional scaling. As with rotation, the scaling center of the target object has to be set to the position of the scaling center of the object to be scaled. The target object, for example a rectangle, is then evenly scaled until it touches the path of the other object. Both object are then evenly rescaled until the rectangle is at its original position with its original size. So, if the path object has to be scaled up, one would scale the rectangle down instead and then scale both objects up again.

In case of uneven scaling, one could use guidelines to scale along them. This workaround doesn't help with freehand scaling, though.

Answer 1

No, you cannot snap paths to nodes. Here are a few work arounds.

• Create a temporary path.
  If you know exactly where on the path you want other objects to snap at, you can draw a temporary path at that point (with snap to path). Then move both the original path and the temporary path together and you'll snap to the temporary path.
• Add nodes.
  If you know you want to snap the path at a certain distance, (such as 1/4 of the distance along it), you can add additional nodes to create it. Nodes are added equidistant along the currently selected line select, so add/delete until you get a new node in the right spot. The extra node is just for snapping, and can (generally) be safely deleted later without altering your path.
• Add nodes at minx/max X and Y
  When using the Node Tool, you'll see an Add Node button on the toolbar. Click the arrow next to it and you'll see additional options like "add at max y". Like the above, this give you a target for snapping purposes.

Answer 2

No, there isn't any solution for snapping paths to nodes. Inkscape only snaps nodes to paths or to nodes.