mingw: implement basic `symlink()` functionality (file symlinks only)
Implement `symlink()`. This implementation always creates _file_ symlinks (remember: Windows discerns between symlinks pointing to directories and those pointing to files). Support for directory symlinks will be added in a subseqeuent commit. This implementation fails with `ENOSYS` if symlinks are disabled or unsupported. Signed-off-by: Karsten Blees <karsten.blees@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Karsten Blees committed
Jan 9, 2026 at 20:05 UTC
593008b95dfd4898f182d664d6b162c7590b4028
2 files changed
+29
-2
compat/mingw-posix.h
+1
-2
index 896aa976b1..2d989fd762 100644
--- a/compat/mingw-posix.h
+++ b/compat/mingw-posix.h
@@ -121,8 +121,6 @@ struct utsname {
* trivial stubs
*/
-static inline int symlink(const char *oldpath UNUSED, const char *newpath UNUSED)
-{ errno = ENOSYS; return -1; }
static inline int fchmod(int fildes UNUSED, mode_t mode UNUSED)
{ errno = ENOSYS; return -1; }
#ifndef __MINGW64_VERSION_MAJOR
@@ -195,6 +193,7 @@ int setitimer(int type, struct itimerval *in, struct itimerval *out);
int sigaction(int sig, struct sigaction *in, struct sigaction *out);
int link(const char *oldpath, const char *newpath);
int uname(struct utsname *buf);
+int symlink(const char *target, const char *link);
int readlink(const char *path, char *buf, size_t bufsiz);
/*
compat/mingw.c
+28
index b407a2ac07..8d366794c4 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.c
+++ b/compat/mingw.c
@@ -2698,6 +2698,34 @@ int link(const char *oldpath, const char *newpath)
return 0;
}
+int symlink(const char *target, const char *link)
+{
+ wchar_t wtarget[MAX_PATH], wlink[MAX_PATH];
+ int len;
+
+ /* fail if symlinks are disabled or API is not supported (WinXP) */
+ if (!has_symlinks) {
+ errno = ENOSYS;
+ return -1;
+ }
+
+ if ((len = xutftowcs_path(wtarget, target)) < 0
+ || xutftowcs_path(wlink, link) < 0)
+ return -1;
+
+ /* convert target dir separators to backslashes */
+ while (len--)
+ if (wtarget[len] == '/')
+ wtarget[len] = '\\';
+
+ /* create file symlink */
+ if (!CreateSymbolicLinkW(wlink, wtarget, 0)) {
+ errno = err_win_to_posix(GetLastError());
+ return -1;
+ }
+ return 0;
+}
+
int readlink(const char *path, char *buf, size_t bufsiz)
{
WCHAR wpath[MAX_PATH];