Remove a symlink to a directory?

Question

I have a symlink to an important directory. I want to get rid of that symlink, while keeping the directory behind it. I tried `rm` and get back `rm: cannot remove 'foo'`. I tried `rmdir` and got back `rmdir: failed to remove 'foo': Directory not empty` I then progressed through `rm -f`, `rm -rf` and `sudo rm -rf` Then I went to find my back-ups. Is there a way to get rid of the symlink with out throwing away the baby with the bathwater?

Answer 1

That's a sad-ending story, but yes - I'm assuming I know what really happened here.

You didn't own the symlink - someone else did - perhaps root, but not necessarily.

You applied the sudo to the wrong command.

You should have applied it to your 1st "rm" attempt

sudo rm symLink

rather than

sudo rm -rf dirThatSymLinkPointsTo

That's when you "threw the baby out" ... that's when the file system blocks got purged.

In the future, you just need to be mindful of exactly what you're doing with sudo

You intended to end up with a directory that no longer had a symLink pointing to it.

Instead you wound up with a synLink pointing to an invalid directory.

I'll wager this - you're never do this again ;-)