Symbolic Links don't seem to work

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Level 1

11 points

Symbolic Links don't seem to work

I'm having the same problem that was asked several years ago, this time with macos Ventura: Symbolic links don't work with the Finder. For instance: In a terminal window I wrote (prompts shortened):

$ echo '(text)' > _abc.txt

$ cat _abc.txt

(text)

$ ln -s _abc.txt _abc-link.txt

$ ls -l _abc-link.txt

lrwxr-xr-x 1 jonathan staff 8 Mar 29 15:33 _abc-link.txt -> _abc.txt

$ open _abc-link.txt # this works

But if I double-click _abc-link.txt, I get an alert: "There is no application set to open the document “_abc-link.txt”.

Similarly, if I type in the terminal

$ ln -s /Applications/BBEdit.app ./BBEdit.app-link

I can double-click this link and the BBEdit application opens. However, I can't drop a file on it and have it open. This is _not_ the case with the original BBEdit.app icon, or with an alias file to it if I use the Finder command "Make Alias."

MacBook Pro 15″

Posted on Mar 29, 2023 12:54 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

James Brickley

Level 5

5,320 points

Mar 29, 2023 2:29 PM in response to drjlevi6

I can confirm your conclusions regarding symbolic links and macOS Aliases. I have found a macOS Service that can be added. You would right-click the file you wish to create a symbolic link and go to Services and click 'Make Symbolic Link' and that link seems to work in Finder and on the command line equally well.

The open source code is here:

https://github.com/nickzman/symboliclinker

You can install it via Homebrew:

brew install symboliclinker

I've not been able to decipher why it works and why the symbolic links it creates are different than those created with Unix 'ln -s' command. I don't know why Finder respects it more than the Unix style soft link. But it definitely works.

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Answer 2

drjlevi6 Author

Level 1

11 points

Mar 29, 2023 1:53 PM in response to drjlevi6

The problem with dropping a file on a link was solved by restarting the computer. However, double-clicking my link _abc-link.txt still gives "There is no application set to open the document “_abc-link.txt”.