Cannot unlink symlink to directory

[jmcgee]

I want to remove a symlink to a directory, after that I will create another symlink.

I get errors:


mythuser@PVR1:/usr/share/zoneminder$ ls -li
total 48
2876739 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 ajax
2876993 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 17 Feb 12 2012 cgi-bin -> ../../lib/cgi-bin
2876747 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 css
2876697 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 db
2876990 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 28 Jan 20 10:00 events -> /mnt/raid2/zoneminder/events
2876751 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 graphics
2876991 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 28 Jan 20 10:01 images -> /mnt/raid2/zoneminder/images
2876755 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 includes
2876988 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3795 Feb 12 2012 index.php
2876763 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 js
2876766 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 lang
2876787 drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 skins
2876989 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 12 2012 sounds
2876992 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 26 Feb 12 2012 temp -> /var/cache/zoneminder/temp
2876984 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 12 2012 tools
2876985 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 views



mythuser@PVR1:/usr/share/zoneminder/events$ unlink /mnt/raid2/zoneminder/events
unlink: cannot unlink `/mnt/raid2/zoneminder/events': Is a directory

or

mythuser@PVR1:/usr/share/zoneminder/events$ rm /mnt/raid2/zoneminder/events
rm: cannot remove `/mnt/raid2/zoneminder/events': Is a directory

or

mythuser@PVR1:/usr/share/zoneminder/events$ rmdir /mnt/raid2/zoneminder/events
rmdir: failed to remove `/mnt/raid2/zoneminder/events': Directory not empty

[claracc]

As I understand from the error obtained you are trying to unlink a directory but you have to unlink a FILE: http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/lucid/man1/unlink.1.html

Also, this link can be useful: http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/lucid/man2/unlink.2.html

[steeldriver]

It looks like you are specifying the wrong 'end' of the link - if you have


/path/to/symlink -> /path/to/real/dir

then you shouldn't be trying to unlink or rm /path/to/real/dir, you should be doing


unlink /path/to/symlink

or


rm /path/to/symlink

In your case (since you are already in the parent dir), it should be enough to do


unlink events
or

rm events

[jmcgee]

Thanks Steeldriver, you were correct. However, it deleted the directory, not just the symlink:


mythuser@PVR1:/usr/share/zoneminder$ ls -li
total 48
2876739 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 ajax
2876993 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 17 Feb 12 2012 cgi-bin -> ../../lib/cgi-bin
2876747 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 css
2876697 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 db
2876990 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 28 Jan 20 10:00 events -> /mnt/raid2/zoneminder/events
2876751 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 graphics
2876991 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 28 Jan 20 10:01 images -> /mnt/raid2/zoneminder/images
2876755 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 includes
2876988 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3795 Feb 12 2012 index.php
2876763 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 js
2876766 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 lang
2876787 drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 skins
2876989 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 12 2012 sounds
2876992 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 26 Feb 12 2012 temp -> /var/cache/zoneminder/temp
2876984 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 12 2012 tools
2876985 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 views

then I did


mythuser@PVR1:/usr/share/zoneminder$ unlink /usr/share/zoneminder/events
unlink: cannot unlink `/usr/share/zoneminder/events': Permission denied
mythuser@PVR1:/usr/share/zoneminder$ sudo unlink /usr/share/zoneminder/events
[sudo] password for mythuser:

but it deleted the source directory, in addition to the symlink. Not a big deal, there was nothing of importance in the directory, I just recreated it.


mythuser@PVR1:/usr/share/zoneminder$ ls -li
total 48
2876739 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 ajax
2876993 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 17 Feb 12 2012 cgi-bin -> ../../lib/cgi-bin
2876747 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 css
2876697 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 db
2876751 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 graphics
2876991 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 28 Jan 20 10:01 images -> /mnt/raid2/zoneminder/images
2876755 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 includes
2876988 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3795 Feb 12 2012 index.php
2876763 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 js
2876766 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 lang
2876787 drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 skins
2876989 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 12 2012 sounds
2876992 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 26 Feb 12 2012 temp -> /var/cache/zoneminder/temp
2876984 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 12 2012 tools
2876985 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 30 15:06 views

Is there a command to just delete the symlink?

[CharlesA]

rm -i /path/to/symlink

;)

Use sudo if needed.

[steeldriver]

What do you mean exactly by "it deleted the directory"? Is /mnt/raid2/zoneminder/events still there? That's "the directory", and that should NOT have been deleted by either an unlink OR rm of the symlink

Or were you expecting /usr/share/zoneminder/ to still contain an 'events' dir?

[jmcgee]

Yes, I expected /usr/share/zoneminder/events as a directory to remain, but no longer be symlinked to /mnt/raid2/zoneminder/events.

It certainly is no longer symlinked but as you can see in the directory listing above, it was there before and not after the unlink command.