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Forum Discussion
Syncing when using symbolic links
Hello, I am having an issue concerning dropbox syncing when using symbolic links. Using Windows 10 and the Dropbox app, recently downloaded / installed so I believe it is fully up to date. On the ...
Jay
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHi Jay,
Actually they do (or at least seem to so far) if created properly. This obviously fails:
% cd ~/Dropbox ; ln -s ~/mydir ./mydir
But if the symlink is from outside Dropbox to a file that is inside Dropbox, it seems to work fine. But only if the link is created carefully. Curiously, this fails:
% cd ~/Dropbox ; ln -s myDropboxDir ~/mydir
And this fails:
% cd ~/Dropbox ; ln -s myDropboxDir mydir ; mv mydir ~
BUT this works:
% cd ~ ; ln -s ~/Dropbox/DropboxDir mydir
You end up with a directory (actually a soft link) ~/mydir that works perfectly well, with contents accessible on all machines using the Dropbox account.
Going end to end:
mac1> cd ~/Dropbox; mkdir myDropboxDir ; cd ~ ; ln -s Dropbox/myDropboxDir ./mydir
Makes a perfectly functional ~/mydir
And on a second machine:
mac2> cd ~ ; ln -s Dropbox/MyDropboxDir ./mydir
Makes a perfectly functional ~/mydir as well. Any changes made in ~/mydir on mac1 show up (both from Finder and from the command line) in ~/mydir on mac2. And vice versa.
Of course, Dropbox/myDropboxDir should be set to sync.
I think this effectively provides all of the functionality one might want using symbolilc links with Dropbox. For example, it provides a way to have ~/src and ~/bin synchronized across machines.
- Lusil
Hi everyone! Thanks for keeping in touch with us on this thread regarding symlinks.
I just wanted to note that, if you haven't already, you can check out more info about symlinks and how to use them with Dropbox in this article.
If you have any other questions or feedback for us, feel free to give us a nudge. Thanks again!
Hey Lusil,
Thanks for the article, but it still misses the point. It discusses the differences between symbolic links inside Dropbox pointing to objects also inside Dropbox (which work) and symbolic links inside Dropbox pointing to objects outside Dropbox (which do not work).
But the article does not discuss symbolic links where the object itself is inside Dropbox but the symlink is outside Dropbox.
You do not discuss the case:
OutsideDropbox/linkdir --> Dropbox/dir
To me, the last is actually the interesting case, because it allows one to have files and directories that seem to be outside of Dropbox but in fact are shared and synced. Which is kind of the point.
You just have to be careful about how the link is constructed. It has to be a soft link properly constructed from the command line with ln -s. (From the Finder soft links and Apple "alias" files are tagged the same way with a little arrow, but they are absolutely not the same thing. Apple alias files don't work here.)
PS: I have since realized that some of the strangeness applies to any soft links (ln -s variety) regardless of whether the target file is inside Dropbox or not. My bad. The point is that the great utility of soft links is to make a shared or remote resource look and behave as if it is local. Soft links to Dropbox items serve that purpose in spectacular fashion.
I should also say that Dropbox is a great service. I already use it in many ways; my environment and workflow would blow up without it. I'm finding new ways to put it to use routinely. Having seen comments to the effect that "symbolic links are not supported," I had never really gone down that path. I posted here because of my pleasure in discovering that when thought about and implemented with some care, Dropbox and symbolic links work together amazingly well.
