Safe way to remove a symbolic link to an non-existing directory (for the python binary)

Question

I accidentally typed:

sudo ln -sf /usr/local/bin/python2.5/ /usr/bin/python

instead of:

sudo ln -sf /usr/local/bin/python2.5 /usr/bin/python

Now bash tells me that /usr/bin/python is not a directory whenever I run python.

ls -l /usr/bin/python gives me expectedly /usr/bin/python --> /usr/local/bin/python2.5/

Is there any safe way to remove that symbolic link to a directory (that does not exist) and replace it with a link to the intended file?

Arigato in advance if you have any ideas.

I am stuck....

score 7 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 27 '11 at 11:49

7

you can simply remove the link with rm :

rm /usr/bin/python

answered Feb 27 '11 at 11:49

krtek

26,334
5
56
84

won't that remove the whole binary file? – uploada Feb 28 '11 at 05:22
2

@uploada: No, `rm` on a symlink just removes the symlink, not what it points to. – Keith Thompson Nov 24 '11 at 03:59

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 27 '11 at 11:50

1

You remove a symlink the same way you remove a regular file, even if it's a symlink to a directory. (If the target doesn't exist, it's a moot point whether it was intended to be a directory or a file.)

answered Feb 27 '11 at 11:50

Marcelo Cantos

181,030
38
327
365

awesome it works. just was too scared about the action. realized that it was just a link.Tks – uploada Feb 28 '11 at 05:26

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 24 '11 at 03:53

this worked for me. Although I originally created the symlink following a blender tutorial http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:2.5/Doc/Building_Blender/Linux/Troubleshooting#Setting_Python_Path_in_SCons

using this command:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /your/path/to/python3.2 1

(see man page for update-alternatives for info. Terminal>man update-alternatives)

I'm curious to know how badly I've messed things up for the update-alternatives system of managing different versions of same-named software. For instance, i think scons runs on python2.7 while blender builds internally with python3.2. Will things resolve correctly still? We shall see...

Safe way to remove a symbolic link to an non-existing directory (for the python binary)

3 Answers3

Linked