[lug] Odd Problem with rm and Symbolic Links

[Davide Del Vento]

That's right. And not only for rm but for all commands. Some commands then
ignore the difference, but there is one. Also do note that ls does not
ignore it. Try

ls <your favorite options> link

vs

ls <your favorite options> link/

Note that the options must be the same to see the difference, since -d
changes the behavior of ls.

Cheers,
Davide


On Sat, Dec 28, 2013 at 8:38 PM, Orion Poplawski <orion at cora.nwra.com>wrote:

> On 12/28/2013 06:53 PM, stimits at comcast.net wrote:
>
>> I'm using Fedora 19, fully updated. I'd created a symbolic link with "ln
>> -s <real> <symbolic>", but ls -ld shows this as a directory, while a
>> simple ls -a --color=auto shows that this is indeed a symbolic link, and
>> if I use "ls -l" from the parent the output indicates it is a soft link
>> and where the link goes.
>>
>> rm fails. If I go to "rm <link>" it tells me this is a directory...so
>> apparently ls -ld and rm agree, but ls -a --color=auto and ls -l from
>> parent DISagree with rm. If I use "rm -f <link>", it refuses, because it
>> is a directory.
>>
>> If I use "rmdir <link>", it also refuses, because it is NOT a directory!
>>
>> My only success is to "rm -Rf" the link. Sadly, this removes all of the
>> subdirectories the link pointed at...removing a symbolic link should not
>> remove what it points at! What gives? Was rm or the use of symbolic link
>> written to a different standard than I'm used to? Is there some new way
>> in fedora to remove a symbolic link without removing what it points to?
>> I have a backup of what it removed, but something seems drastically wrong.
>>
>> Both rm and ln are provided by rpm coreutils-8.21-11.fc19.x86_64.
>> Filesystem is a single partition with ext4. Kernel is current
>> 3.12.5-200.fc19.x86_64.
>>
>>
>
> be aware that:
>
> rm link/
>
> and
>
> rm link
>
> are different.  Tab-completion (which adds the /) can be an issue here.
>
>
> --
> Orion Poplawski
> Technical Manager                     303-415-9701 x222
> NWRA/CoRA Division                    FAX: 303-415-9702
> 3380 Mitchell Lane                  orion at cora.nwra.com
> Boulder, CO 80301              http://www.cora.nwra.com
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