ls shows a directory but it is inaccessible

files symlink cp file-copy

15,760

Solution 1

Evidently, the val that resulted from the copy the first time round is a broken symbolic link.

ls lists val because it exists: there is a directory entry called val.
cd val complains “No such file or directory” because val is a broken symbolic link. cd needs to access the target of the link, but the target doesn't exist (that's the definition of a broken symlink).
du val shows 0 because a symbolic link doesn't use any storage space. (The space for the name and metadata is not counted.)
os.path.exists returns False for broken symbolic links.
rmdir val rightfully complains that val is not a directory, since it's a symbolic link.
rm val deletes val normally, since val is a file that isn't a directory.

You report:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 user1 dinfk      4 Jun 20 12:05 source_folder -> test

The command cp -r copies the symbolic link as a symbolic link. Since source_folder is a symbolic link whose target is test, this results in level1/val being a symbolic link whose target is test. The target of a symbolic link is a simple string, it doesn't “track” anything. Symbolic links that don't start with a / are relative. level1/val is a symbolic link whose target is test so it points to level1/test. Since level1/test doesn't exist, the symbolic link is broken.

Later you saw:

drwxr-sr-x 2 user2  systems 4096 Aug 27 19:02 level1/val

This time you did something different and copied a directory tree.

To copy the target of the link rather than the link itself, you can use

cp -r source_folder/ level1/val

The trailing slash tells the cp command to act on the directory that the link points to rather than on the symbolic link itself. If the argument is a directory, this doesn't make any difference.

Solution 2

source_folder - is symlink that refer to the test directory

But you directory path in symlink is relative. If you use absolute path (e.g. /home/user/test) in symlink copying will happen normally.

If you want to copy all files from the directory to which the symbolic link points, you could use -d option with cp command.

15,760

Ant

“But this long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead. Economists set themselves too easy, too useless a task if in tempestuous seasons they can only tell us that when the storm is long past the ocean is flat again." (Keynes)

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

Ant almost 2 years
I was trying to copy one folder from one location to another. The folder is about 6.4 Gb.

So I did
```
cp -r source_folder level1/val
```
after that, I went into the level1 folder and checked:
```
level1$ ls
val
```
But If I try to cd into val, an error is raised:
```
level1$ cd val
-bash: cd: val: No such file or directory
```
And it does not appear to be copying anything, either:
```
level1$ du -sh val
0   val
```
I also checked with python if the directory exists or not, but it also says that it does not exist
```
>>> import os
>>> os.path.exists('level1/val')
False
```
I can't even delete the folder that has been created:
```
level1$ rmdir val
rmdir: failed to remove 'val': Not a directory
```
On the other hand, I was able to delete it as if it was a file:
```
level1$ rm val
level1$ ls
level1$ 
```
What is going on? And how can I make sure to copy the folder correctly?

EDIT Added the output of ls -ld source_folder level1/val which returns
```
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user1 dinfk      4 Jun 20 12:05 source_folder -> test
drwxr-sr-x 2 user2  systems 4096 Aug 27 19:02 level1/val
```
- Hauke Laging almost 7 years
  
  What is the output of ls -ld ource_folder level1/val?
- Ant almost 7 years
  
  @HaukeLaging Added :)
- Hauke Laging almost 7 years
  
  That is very strange. You should run fsck on that volume.
- B Layer almost 7 years
  
  The number 2 in the second column of level1/val listing indicates that there is a hard link to that file-dir thing. My understanding is you can't create hard links to dirs in Bash even though they're technically allowed by the OS. But is it a file or a directory? Except for the d indicator it seems like a file. ... The voodoo going on with that sucker is beyond my pay grade.
- Egor Vasilyev almost 7 years
  
  df -h shows different sizes before and after copying? 6,4Gb is sufficiently large to detect this difference.
- Eric Towers almost 7 years
  
  What user was attempting the cp? I would expect that user1 would fail since only the owner, user2, has write permission to level1/val.
- Ant almost 7 years
  
  @EgorVasilyev Do you mean the size of source_folder after performing the command? It is still 6.4 Gb
- Ant almost 7 years
  
  @EricTowers It was user2, the owner of level1/val
- Eric Towers almost 7 years
  
  Does user2 have read permission on /test and all of its contents? (The lrwxrwxrwx permissions on the link tell us nothing about the permissions at the target of the link.)
Ant almost 7 years

Thank you! I uses an absolute path to source_folder, but I need to use an absolute path to the folder it links to instead (i.e. test?) Or using -d, so the command would be cp -rd source_folder level1/val ?
Egor Vasilyev almost 7 years

When you create symlink you type path to the folder to which symlink will refer. Example 1: ln -s test source_folder. Example 2: ln -s /home/user/test source_folder. In first example you use relative path and in second example you use absolute path (which start from root directory - /).
Egor Vasilyev almost 7 years

path to source_folder is not the same thing that path in symlink
Ant almost 7 years

Thank you very much! Very clear and informative answer. I used your command and it worked perfectly. Much appreciated! :D