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Copy a symbolic link even when its target does not exist - #433
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copyFile(File, File) checked source.exists() before the symbolic-link branch, and File.exists() follows links, so a dangling link was rejected as a missing file. The link branch now runs first and creates the destination directory like the regular-file path does, and the permission copy is skipped for a link destination because the link has no permissions of its own and its target may be absent. Fixes #306
elharo
approved these changes
Sep 11, 2026
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copyFile(File, File)checkedsource.exists()before its symbolic-link branch, andFile.exists()follows links, so a link whose target is missing was rejected as a missing file. The link branch now runs first. Two smaller gaps in the same path surfaced while testing: the link branch did not create the destination directory the way the regular-file path does, and the filtering overload then tried to copy POSIX permissions onto a dangling link, which follows the link and fails. Both are handled in this change.The two tests follow the scenarios from #110 by @kwin: a dangling link, and a relative link copied into another directory where its target does not resolve. Both are skipped on Windows like the other symlink tests here.
copyFileis deprecated in favour ofFiles.copywithNOFOLLOW_LINKS, but it still ships, and maven-filtering hit this same path in MSHARED-1112, so the reordered check is worth having.Fixes #306.
Verified:
mvn -B verifyon JDK 17 -> Tests run: 793, Failures: 0, Errors: 0; on master the dangling-link test fails withIOException: File .../dangling does not exist.This change was created with AI assistance.