On Fri, 2004-11-26 at 01:52 -0500, William M. Quarles wrote: > Hi, > > I keep having this problem with symbolic links to directories on my > computer. Once they are set up, if I try to remove them, this paradox > occurs: > > [root@resistance plugins]# rm ns7/quarlewm/ > rm: remove directory `ns7/quarlewm/'? y > rm: cannot remove directory `ns7/quarlewm/': Is a directory > [root@resistance plugins]# rm -Rf ns7/quarlewm/ > rm: cannot remove `ns7/quarlewm/': Not a directory > [root@resistance plugins]# > > I also cannot place force a different symbolic link in it's place, as it > just places the new link inside of the "directory." > > Does anyone know what the underlying problem is, and any possible ways > of solving it or circumventing it? Ouch - I got bitten by this once upon a time and feel great that I can help someone else out with it. The secret is ... don't use the / at the end of the directory in your rm command. When you use bash auto-complete with the 'tab' key it will add the / and this is what is messing you up. To remove a symbolic link to a directory you need to remove just the name - eg. 'rm quarlewm' and not 'rm quarlewm/' HTH pantz
