Soft link removal.HPUX 11.11

[itreyger]

I have soft link created from one of our directories. I would like to remove it but when I try rm -r /adacs_data/lib/test I am getting "it is a directory".I also tryed unlink but it did not work.I think I need to know the name of that link but all I know is the directory it links to.Please help.Thanks

[Marco A.]

Hello,

Which are the file permissions ?

use ll to determine that ..

Have you tried to use only rm .

Rgds,

Marco

[itreyger]

when I try rm -r /adacs_data/lib/test I am getting "it is a directory". The permissions are lrwxr-xr-x

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

DANGEROUS !!!

rm -rf will work.

It will however wipe out all the data that is soft linked.

Please do an ll on the softlink, post it and someone will try and help.

SEP

[Marco A.]

What is the ll-i of that link ?!

Please post the output ...

rgds,

Marco

[Sandman!]

Not sure if /adacs_data/lib/test is a directory or a file and whether it's soft linked to another file or if it is the soft link? please clarify...

[itreyger]

It looks like this test(directory) -> /adacs_data/lib/test.Test directory links to /adacs_data/lib/test. /adacs_data/lib/test ia a directory.

[Sandman!]

So "test" (which itself is a dir?)is a soft link to the "/adacs_data/lib/test" directory. And which one are you trying to remove...the soft link or the actual directory itself?

[Peter Nikitka]

Hi,

adapt the names to your needs:

Creation of a sysmlink:
mkdir -p /tmp/a/b /tmp/c
ln -s /tmp/a/b /tmp/c

Check:
ls -l /tmp/c/b
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ef3nip00 nsd 8 May 8 17:27 /tmp/c/b -> /tmp/a/b

Removal:
rm /tmp/c/b

mfG Peter

[itreyger]

To sendman:
I am trying to remove link to /adacs_data/lib/test.This link goes from Test dir /adacs_data/lib/test.
When I try rm /adacs_data/lib/test - rm: /adacs_data/lib/test directory

[Dennis Handly]

We don't seem to be getting anywhere.

You need to say what shell you are using and do the following commands:
$ ll -i your-symlink
$ ll -Ldi your-symlink
$ ll -di your-link-target

>I am trying to remove link to /adacs_data/lib/test.

We need to know where the link is, not where it points.

>This link goes from Test dir /adacs_data/lib/test.

You said this is the target of the link?

>When I try rm /adacs_data/lib/test - rm: /adacs_data/lib/test directory

Please do:
$ ll -di /adacs_data/lib/test

[itreyger]

result of ll -d dacs/lib/test: 808 drwxrwxrwx 75 adacs adacs 4096 Jan 25 18:15 /adacs/lib/test.Here is the a little bit more info - Since /opt/adacs/lib/test mount point was getting full (92% of utilization)decission was made to create a soft link to the following dir.(adacs_data/lib/test) to save the data there because only 15% of /adacs_data was utilized.I do not know if its going to help but I tryed...

[Peter Nikitka]

Hi,

it is clear that the data you gave to the ls command (whatever the name was) is NOT a link but definitly a directory:
- no simple rm will work
- a 'rm -rf' will destroy the data

Concerning your primary intent, I would look into /opt/adacs/... - this place may be the place, where you created a link:
find /opt/adacs -type l

mfG Peter

[itreyger]

Output of find /opt/adacs -type l:
/opt/adacs/views/TEST
/opt/adacs/views/TEST_views/view
/opt/adacs/views/test
/opt/adacs/bin.17Jan07
/opt/adacs/data/merged
/opt/adacs/lib/test
/opt/adacs/setup.sav
/opt/adacs/setup.17Jan07
/opt/adacs//views.18Jan07

[Peter Nikitka]

Hi,

having several links named test (different spelling however), check where they point to:
ls -l /opt/adacs/views/test

These pointing to your real directory data are your candidates. You have to decide, whether
- a simple remove
- remove, copying the 'real data' back
- leave as it is
is the action.

mfG Peter

[itreyger]

Here is what I have got:
ls -l /opt/adacs/test
/opt/adacs/test -> /adacs_data/test

ls -l /opt/adacs/lib/test
/opt/adacs/lib/test -> /adacs_data/lib/test

I just want simply to remove the link without deleting the data

Thanks

[Patrick Wallek · Accepted solution]

The link "/opt/adacs/test" points to "/adacs_data/test" and "/opt/adacs/lib/test" points to "/adacs_data/lib/test".

So to remove the links you just need to do:

rm /opt/adacs/test

rm /opt/adacs/lib/test

No data will be removed.

[itreyger]

Patrick, it worked just fine. Thank you!

I just wanted to thanks everybody that contributed!