Symbolic link problem

[Deron Meranda]

On Fri, 26 Nov 2004 01:52:03 -0500, William M. Quarles <quarlewm at jmu.edu> wrote:
> [root at resistance plugins]# rm ns7/quarlewm/
> rm: remove directory `ns7/quarlewm/'? y
> rm: cannot remove directory `ns7/quarlewm/': Is a directory
> [root at resistance plugins]# rm -Rf ns7/quarlewm/
> rm: cannot remove `ns7/quarlewm/': Not a directory

You didn't specify what are symlinks and what are your directories. 
Perhaps the output of an "ls -l" might help.

Also, please try using /bin/rm as it appears your "rm" is currently an
alias or a shell function and therefore we don't see all the options. 
(If you enter "type rm" you'll see what the shell thinks rm really
is).

And another thing to be aware of is that putting a "/" at the end of a
pathname can change how it is interpreted, especially with symlinks
involved.  So, what happens if you do "rm ns7/quarlewm" instead?


> I also cannot place force a different symbolic link in it's place, as it
> just places the new link inside of the "directory."

Either remove the existing symlink first, or also supply the options
"-n -f", as in,

   ln -n -f -s new_target symlink_name

-- 
Deron Meranda