[Bug 254489] Command 'ln -sfF' behaves unreasonably: it deletes the target directory and then fails

[bugzilla-noreply at freebsd.org]

https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=254489

christos at christosmarg.xyz changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |christos at christosmarg.xyz

--- Comment #1 from christos at christosmarg.xyz ---
There is no bug on ln(1)'s part. The -F option checks if your last argument is
a directory and if it is, it removes it only if it's empty (see code below).


static int      Fflag;                  /* Remove empty directories also. */


if (Fflag && S_ISDIR(sb.st_mode)) {
        if (rmdir(target)) {
                warn("%s", target);
                return (1);
        }
}

The reason your command fails doesn't have to do with the -F option - it has to
do with the fact that you're trying to create a link named `.x/`, and as you
probably know, you're not allowed to use slashes inside a name, so symlink(2)
fails. You'd get the same error no matter what option you used.

If you want your command to work, simply write it as `ln -sfF /bin/ls .x`.

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