- 1 year ago
Why doesn't Linux git, when run in the Windows WSL and operating on a NTFS file system, create a proper Windows symlink?
When using Git in the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and operating on an NTFS file system, creating proper Windows symlinks can sometimes be a challenge. This is because the behavior of symlinks differs between Linux and Windows, and the WSL tries to bridge the gap between the two.
By default, when you create a symbolic link in WSL, it creates a symbolic link that is compatible with Linux, rather than a Windows-style symlink. Linux symbolic links are different from Windows shortcuts or symbolic links, and they are not recognized as such by Windows applications.
To create proper Windows symlinks from within WSL, you can use the mklink
command provided by Windows instead of the ln
command in Linux. Here's an example:
mathematicacmd.exe /C mklink /D C:\path\to\link C:\path\to\target
In this command, C:\path\to\link
is the path to the symlink you want to create, and C:\path\to\target
is the path to the target directory or file.
By running the mklink
command through cmd.exe
, you invoke the Windows command prompt from within WSL, allowing you to create a Windows-style symlink that is recognized by Windows applications.
It's important to note that when using this approach, you're working with the Windows file system and invoking Windows commands. This means the resulting symlink will not have the same behavior as a Linux symbolic link.
If you need to work with both Linux and Windows symlinks interchangeably, you may need to consider alternative solutions, such as using a shared file system or working within a virtual machine or containerized environment that provides better support for cross-platform symlink functionality.