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6

ln -snf is not atomic: it unlinks the destination, then creates the desired symlink.

Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
– Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'

2011-08-13 12:37:05 +00:00
Commented Aug 13, 2011 at 12:37
2

Given that the OP was interested in getting "as close as possib[e]" to atomically changing a symlink, this is a perfectly reasonable answer. If there is a better one that can get closer (or be) atomic, that one can be accepted. I don't think there's a need to downvote.

Wilco
– Wilco

2013-10-29 18:51:59 +00:00
Commented Oct 29, 2013 at 18:51
2

Not sure for busybox, but I have confirmed by strace that on modern linux distribution such as Ubuntu Bionic, the ln -snf works atomically, it does not call unlink, it will do actually "ln -s source a_tmp_file && mv -T a_tmp_file symlink"

osexp2000
– osexp2000

2022-02-12 07:30:49 +00:00
Commented Feb 12, 2022 at 7:30

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