aspiers / aspiers/stow

Can GNU Stow use a stow target directory that is a symbolic link?

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need info question
Dominant language
Perl
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Forks
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Description

```sh

mkdir -p /usr/local/Cellar/app/0.36.2/{bin,etc}

touch /usr/local/Cellar/app/0.36.2/{LICENSE,README.md}
touch /usr/local/Cellar/app/0.36.2/bin/cmd

ln -s /usr/local/Cellar/app/0.36.2 /usr/local/opt/app

mkdir -p ~/dotfiles/app-config/opt/app/

touch ~/dotfiles/app-config/opt/app/homebrew.mxcl.app.plist

cd ~/dotfiles/app-config/opt/
stow -v5 -n --no-folding --dir=. --target=/usr/local/opt/
```

Output

```
read_a_link(app): real link
Evaluate existing link: app => ../Cellar/app/0.36.2
is path ../Cellar/app/0.36.2 owned by stow?
no - either ../Cellar/app/0.36.2 not under ../../../Users/issenn/dotfiles/app-config/opt or vice-versa
CONFLICT when stowing .: existing target is not owned by stow: app
```

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reproducing the reported GNU Stow command sequence and inspect how the existing target symlink is evaluated and classified as owned or conflicting. Determine the intended behavior for a stow target that is itself a symbolic link, then add coverage for this exact scenario; done means the command handles it according to the agreed behavior without reporting the shown conflict.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
perl
Domain
cli
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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