Throw EEXIST when ensureSymlink dest is a broken symlink - #1076
Merged
RyanZim merged 2 commits intoJul 23, 2026
Merged
Conversation
ensureSymlink/ensureSymlinkSync stat() the destination to check whether an existing symlink already points at srcpath. When that symlink is broken, following it fails and the raw ENOENT (stat '<dest>') surfaced to the caller, which is confusing: a symlink that points at a *different* existing target already throws EEXIST. Skip the idempotency check when the destination can't be followed so the existing creation path reports EEXIST consistently, broken or not. Closes jprichardson#925
RyanZim
reviewed
Jul 3, 2026
When an existing dest is a symlink, the stat that checks whether it already points at src is expected to fail with ENOENT for a broken link. Narrow the catch so that only ENOENT is swallowed (falling through to the existing EEXIST behavior) and any other error propagates instead of being hidden.
Contributor
Author
|
Good call. I've narrowed that catch so it only swallows ENOENT (the broken-link case we're actually expecting) and rethrows anything else, following the |
RyanZim
approved these changes
Jul 23, 2026
Collaborator
|
Published in |
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
Sign up for free
to join this conversation on GitHub.
Already have an account?
Sign in to comment
2 participants
Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.This suggestion is invalid because no changes were made to the code.Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is closed.Suggestions cannot be applied while viewing a subset of changes.Only one suggestion per line can be applied in a batch.Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.Applying suggestions on deleted lines is not supported.You must change the existing code in this line in order to create a valid suggestion.Outdated suggestions cannot be applied.This suggestion has been applied or marked resolved.Suggestions cannot be applied from pending reviews.Suggestions cannot be applied on multi-line comments.Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is queued to merge.Suggestion cannot be applied right now. Please check back later.
Fixes #925.
ensureSymlink/ensureSymlinkSyncstat the destination to check whether an existing symlink already points atsrcpath. When that symlink is broken, following it fails and the rawENOENT(stat '<dest>') bubbles up to the caller. That's surprising, since a symlink pointing at a different existing target already throwsEEXIST— only the broken case leaked the stat error. @RyanZim noted the same direction in the issue.I skip the idempotency check when the destination can't be followed, so the existing creation path reports
EEXISTconsistently whether the existing link is broken or just points elsewhere. Added async and sync regression tests;npm testpasses locally.