| Ticket UUID: | 08203e40e341386c6dc5aac0b8405e506f658656 | ||
| Title: | Windows: [file delete -force] fails on a directory containing a symlink | ||
| Type: | Bug | Created on: | 2026-10-17 10:51:12 |
| Submitter: | serhiy.storchaka | Assigned to: | |
| Subsystem: | 37. File System | Severity: | Minor |
| Priority: | 5 Medium | Last modified: | 2026-10-20 18:11:29 |
| Status: | Open | Closed by: | |
| Resolution: | None | Closed on: | |
| Version: | 8.6.18, 9.0.5, 9.1.0 | ||
| Description: | ||||
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On Windows, [file delete -force] fails on a directory that contains a file symbolic link. Tcl itself creates such links: [file link -symbolic] makes a real symlink for a file target since 8.6.11 ([548cd945d6]). This needs administrator rights or Developer Mode, the same as mklink. file mkdir d close [open d/a.txt w] file link -symbolic d/b.txt d/a.txt ;# or: mklink d\b.txt a.txt file delete -force d Actual: error deleting "...": invalid argument, and d stays. Expected: d is deleted. Deleting the link itself with [file delete d/b.txt] works. Cause: TraverseWinTree() (win/tclWinFCmd.c) hands every reparse point to TraversalDelete() as DOTREE_LINK, which calls DoRemoveJustDirectory() and so TclWinSymLinkDelete() (win/tclWinFile.c). That function always passes IO_REPARSE_TAG_MOUNT_POINT to FSCTL_DELETE_REPARSE_POINT, which fails with a tag mismatch for a symlink (tag 0xA000000C), giving EINVAL. Even if the reparse data were removed, RemoveDirectoryW() cannot remove a file. A directory symlink inside the tree goes through the same code and probably fails the same way. The same function also explains [3c13c4ed31] ([file delete] on a directory symlink fails with "illegal operation on a directory"/"is a directory"), which was closed as Invalid. Possible fix: delete links with DeleteFileW() or RemoveDirectoryW() depending on FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY. Both remove the link and not its target. Related: [972c35d41d] ([file copy] of symlinks), [c8d4f01a54] (NTFS symlinks not supported by [file]). Seen on Windows 11 in 8.6.18, 9.0.5 and 9.1. | ||||
| User Comments: | ||||
serhiy.storchaka added on 2026-10-17 14:27:36:
Proposed fix in branch win-delete-tree-with-symlinks: a link to a file is removed like a file, and a link to a directory that is not a junction (mklink /D) with RemoveDirectoryW(); the targets are not touched. Directory symbolic links inside the tree failed the same way. Tests winFCmd-9.7 and 9.8 (need the right to create symbolic links). | ||||