aspiers/stow

Should we add support stow directory is symbolic link.

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#11 opened on Dec 3, 2015

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enhancementhelp wantedneed info

Description

Should we support the issue raised at Unix & Linux Stack Exchange: "symlink - Can GNU Stow use a stow directory that is a symbolic link?" ?

It seems that former Stow developers had this in mind, base on the comment in canon_path

EDIT: Clarification from @aspiers:

  • This issue is about the Stow directory being a symlink.
  • #51 is about package trees containing absolute symlinks.
  • #3 is about the symlinks which Stow manages in the target directory being absolute symlinks.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
None
Domain
cli
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
mostly clear
Prerequisites
basic understanding of symlinks
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
40
Research direction
Investigate the linked Unix & Linux Stack Exchange question and the comment in canon path (lib/Stow/Util.pm.in line 178) to understand the expected behavior. Review the clarification from maintainer @aspiers about this being separate from issues #51 and #3. Look at the existing code in lib/Stow/Util.pm.in and how stow resolves paths, then propose a change to support the stow directory being a symlink.