odd behavior while telnet-ing

[gymshoe]

So I don't know how to describe this ....
I was using my FTP client (WS-FTP ...i know..old school) to do some server clean up ..deleting old files and folders and what not...

I then had a need to zip some stuff up as backup before i deleted them, so I telnetted into my account and listed all my folders, ...
and one of them is ...blinking... with the cursor ...

What does that mean? ...the folder that's blinking is one that I deleted with my FTP client, ... through the CNC, through the FTP client... it shows up as gone... as I intended...
but in telnet ..it's ...blinking...

-James

[sheila]

From an account I have access to, it appears that the flashing filename occurs in at least the following situation:
It is a symlink to a file that does not exist on the system

Maybe you deleted the actual file but left behind a symlink to that file and the symlink to the non-existent file is what is blinking?

[gymshoe]

hmm...
how do you delete the symbolic link?

[Kevin]

hmm...
how do you delete the symbolic link?
You should be able to delete it with the rm command just like a regular file.

[gymshoe]

I dont' think i can..
when i start typing part of the file name, and then hit tab (which usually finishes what i'm typing... it doesn't find the file/link at all.

[Kevin]

I dont' think i can..
when i start typing part of the file name, and then hit tab (which usually finishes what i'm typing... it doesn't find the file/link at all.
Bash probably isn't completing the filename for you because it isn't a valid file. You should still be able to delete it though.

[gymshoe]

would it matter that the folder was "Secure_Server" ....i think i made that or it was put in there when i was playing around with SSL pages ....but.....hmm... could that be the reason? ...something is expecting that folder to be there? .....but i deleted the site that i was using for SSL stuff.

[Kevin]

would it matter that the folder was "Secure_Server" ....i think i made that or it was put in there when i was playing around with SSL pages ....but.....hmm... could that be the reason? ...something is expecting that folder to be there? .....but i deleted the site that i was using for SSL stuff.
That is probably why the symlink is broken. If you delete the file or directory that the symlink pointed to it will still be there but it will be broken. If you run the UNIX file command on the symlink before deleting it it will tell you that it is broken and where it was supposed to be pointing to.

Here is a quick example:
# echo test > x
# ln -s x y
# ls -l ?
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5 Aug 10 13:08 x
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 1 Aug 10 13:08 y -> x
# file ?
x: ASCII text
y: symbolic link to `x'
# rm x
# ls -l ?
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 1 Aug 10 13:08 y -> x
# file ?
y: broken symbolic link to `x'
# rm y

[gymshoe]

thanks kevin! ..that little drill was quite helpful! ... i got my problem fixed! and I'm having flashbacks to when i learned about symlinks... a long long time ago... thanks again!

[Kevin]

thanks kevin! ..that little drill was quite helpful! ... i got my problem fixed! and I'm having flashbacks to when i learned about symlinks... a long long time ago... thanks again!
For a good laugh try hard links. They are completely different:
# echo test > x
# ln x y
# ls -l ?
-rw-r--r-- 2 root root 5 Aug 10 13:26 x
-rw-r--r-- 2 root root 5 Aug 10 13:26 y
# file ?
x: ASCII text
y: ASCII text
# rm x
# ls -l ?
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5 Aug 10 13:26 y
# file ?
y: ASCII text
# rm y