aspiers/stow

Support package trees containing absolute symlinks

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#51 opened on Jun 28, 2019

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absolute pathsenhancementhelp wanted

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Description

[This feature request was originally confused with #11 and reported there; moving here to stop the confusion.]

Example use case given by @dmarcoux is a Stow package containing dotfiles for $HOME, in which .mysql_history, .bash_history, and .less_history are symlinks to /dev/null.

Currently Stow refuses to stow these absolute symlinks:

WARNING! stowing home would cause conflicts:
  * source is an absolute symlink dotfiles/home/.bash_history => /dev/null
  * source is an absolute symlink dotfiles/home/.lesshst => /dev/null
  * source is an absolute symlink dotfiles/home/.mysql_history => /dev/null
All operations aborted.

To clarify:

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

They're all separate issues despite appearing similar on the surface.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Investigate the current symlink handling code in Stow's `stow` command, particularly the logic that rejects absolute symlinks. Modify it to allow absolute symlinks within package trees, ensuring they are correctly stowed without conflicts.
Tech stack
perl
Domain
cli
Issue type
Feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
GitPerl
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
60