#!/usr/bin/env python3 # (c) 2015 Taeyeon Mori # A simple script to make ln -s less painful # # Because of how symbolic links work (they're just a pathname that the OS reads and follows), # the link target path must always be relative to the symlink's containing directory, OR # an absolute path altogether. Unfortunately, ln -s does not automatically solve this issue # which makes it painful to create a relative symlink somewhere outside the current working # directory (It screws up shell completion for instance) # This script performs the path transformation before creating the link and can therefore be # used without worries of creating broken symlinks because one forgot to apply the correct # relative adjustment to the target path # # ex: # $ lns -v some-file dir/some-link # ln -s '../some-file' 'dir/some-link' # $ lns -v file ../derp/link # inside a directory called 'herp' # ln -s '../herp/file' '../derp/link' import os import argparse def transport_relpath(path, old_anchor, new_anchor): """ :brief: Transport a relative path from one anchor to another Anchors must both be absolute paths, path must be relative (to old_anchor) """ return os.path.relpath(os.path.normpath(os.path.join(old_anchor, path)), new_anchor) def verbose_symlink(target, dest): print("ln -s '%s' '%s'" % (target, dest)) return os.symlink(target, dest) def main(argv): # Command line interface to make_symlink() parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog=argv[0], description="A 'ln -s' command that automatically translates relative target paths to be relative to the resulting symlink's containing directory when necessary.") parser.add_argument("target", help="The file(s) to create symlink(s) to", nargs="+") parser.add_argument("destination", help="The path of the symbolic link(s) to create") parser.add_argument("-v", "--verbose", help="Print every operation", dest="symlink", const=verbose_symlink, action="store_const", default=os.symlink) args = parser.parse_args(argv[1:]) # Multiple if len(args.target) > 1: if not os.path.isdir(args.destination): print("Destination must be an existing directory when multiple targets are passed!") for target in args.target: dest = os.path.join(args.destination, os.path.basename(target)) args.symlink(target if os.path.isabs(target) else transport_relpath(target, os.curdir, args.destination), dest) # One else: target = args.target[0] dest = ldir = args.destination if os.path.isdir(dest): dest = os.path.join(dest, os.path.basename(target)) else: ldir = os.path.dirname(dest) args.symlink(target if os.path.isabs(target) else transport_relpath(target, os.curdir, ldir), dest) return 0 if __name__ == "__main__": import sys sys.exit(main(sys.argv))