How to edit target path of broken symbolic link from GUI?

Question

Let's assume the following situation:

I have file1 somewhere
```
$ touch file1
```

I make symbolic link to file1 as symlink1:

$ ln -s file1 symlink1
$ file symlink1 
symlink1: symbolic link to file1

I rename file1 to new name (now symlink1 is broken)

$ mv file1 file2
$ file symlink1 
symlink1: broken symbolic link to file1

After the last step the symlink1-link is broken.

I know that Midnight Commander has File → Edit symlink option, but it is terminal way:

$ file symlink1 
symlink1: symbolic link to file2

and it is very useful if target and symlink are located in different file-systems and/or nested folders.

As far I can see Nautilus, Caja, Nemo, Thunar and Dolphin do not have this functionality.

Update. The most useful solution for me would be integration with Caja file-manager by Caja-actions. I use Caja on daily basis.

Delete the broken link and recreate it. That is how symbolic links work. They refer to a file name. If that name is missing or changes, the link breaks. You cannot directly change the target of an existing link. — vanadium, Aug 13 '18 at 16:46
@vanadium I understand how symbolic links work. But Midnight commander allows to change path of symbolic link's target. That is why I'm asking for GUI way. — N0rbert, Aug 13 '18 at 17:03
MC will do the same behind the screens: delete and recreate the symlink. I do not know of a graphical file manager providing similar functionality. Perhaps the more power user oriented graphical dual pane file managers out there? — vanadium, Aug 14 '18 at 09:22

score 10 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 15 '18 at 16:06

10

I use thunar as my default file manager, and here is what I suggest to get a similar behavior like mc.

Create a simple shell script, and save it somewhere you like, for the demonstration purpose I saved it at my $HOME:

#!/bin/bash
if [ -L "$1" ];
then
 new_address=$(zenity --entry)
 ln -sf "$new_address" "$1"
else
 zenity --error --text 'This is not a link'
fi

Add a new custom action which runs this script, for example in thunar:

Now I can right click on files and select 'relink', and it will asks for a new address for that link:

This is obvious that you have to install zenity package to use this script, I think you can manage to use it in different file managers.

edited Aug 15 '18 at 16:06

muru

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answered Aug 15 '18 at 15:49

Ravexina

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Thanks! How do you think is it possible to use your script with Caja-actions or maybe with FileManager actions? I have never used them before but can give a try. – N0rbert Aug 15 '18 at 16:07
1

I never used Caja and from 11.04 I dropped Nautilus... so my knowledge is limited to things like this: Integrating scripts in Nautilus to perform useful tasks Which I have no idea whatever it works or not these days ... – Ravexina Aug 15 '18 at 16:21
@Ravexina thx, I use this on nautilus btw: https://sourceforge.net/p/scriptechocolor/git/ci/master/tree/ScriptEchoColor/bin.extras/sec.Symlink.Edit.NautilusScript.sh – Aquarius Power Sep 20 '19 at 21:21
Works perfect in Thunar. Thank you! – Beast Winterwolf Feb 24 '21 at 23:35
this does not seem to work when thunar opened in root - I wonder if there is a way around this? – onepound Dec 30 '23 at 11:14

WinEunuuchs2Unix · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-19T14:01:57.900

Edit Symbolic Link in Nautilus

The script

To do this in Nautilus we need to create a script using:

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/nautilus/scripts
gedit ~/.local/share/nautilus/scripts/edit-link

Paste in the following:

#!/bin/bash

# NAME: edit-link
# PATH: $HOME/.local/share/nautilus/scripts
# DESC: Edit symbolic link
# CALL: Called from Nautilus file manager.
# DATE: August 18, 2018.

# strip new line char passed by Nautilus
FILENAME=$(echo $NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_SELECTED_FILE_PATHS | sed -e 's/\r//g')

# Multiple files can't be selected.
LINE_COUNT=$(wc -l <<< "$NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_SELECTED_FILE_PATHS")
LINE_COUNT=$((LINE_COUNT-1))

if [[ $LINE_COUNT > 1 ]] ; then
    zenity --error --text "Ony one file can be selected at a time! "
    exit 1
fi

# Object type must be "file..." (ie no directories, etc.)
if [ -d "${FILENAME}" ] ; then
    zenity --error --text "$FILENAME is a directory!";
    exit 1
else
    if [ -L "${FILENAME}" ]; then
        : # Bash noop
    else
        zenity --error --text "${FILENAME} is not a symbolic link!";
        exit 2
    fi
fi

NewLink=$(zenity --entry --text "Enter new symbolic link")
ln -sf "$NewLink" "${FILENAME}"

exit 0

and make it executable

chmod +x ~/.local/share/nautilus/scripts/edit-link

Sample output

This is the test data used. The second last section shows the broken link. Then our script is run giving a new file name. The last section shows the new good link.

Sample screen

This is what the script looks like when you run it:

Highlight a broken link with Nautilus
Right click for context menu
Select Scripts
Select edit-link
Enter new file name above and click OK button

Edit Symbolic Link in Caja

The method is similar to Nautilus but with some Caja specifics. We should follow GNOME2→MATE Migration guide.

So we need create script in the ~/.config/caja/scripts:

mkdir -p ~/.config/caja/scripts
cat > ~/.config/caja/scripts/edit-link << \EOF
#!/bin/bash

# NAME: edit-link
# PATH: $HOME/.config/caja/scripts
# DESC: Edit symbolic link
# CALL: Called from Caja file manager.
# DATE: August 19, 2018.

# strip new line char passed by Caja
FILENAME=$(echo $CAJA_SCRIPT_SELECTED_FILE_PATHS | sed -e 's/\r//g')

# Multiple files can't be selected.
LINE_COUNT=$(wc -l <<< "$CAJA_SCRIPT_SELECTED_FILE_PATHS")
LINE_COUNT=$((LINE_COUNT-1))

if [[ $LINE_COUNT > 1 ]] ; then
    zenity --error --text "Ony one file can be selected at a time! "
    exit 1
fi

# Object type must be "file..." (ie no directories, etc.)
if [ -d "${FILENAME}" ] ; then
    zenity --error --text "$FILENAME is a directory!";
    exit 1
else
    if [ -L "${FILENAME}" ]; then
        : # Bash noop
    else
        zenity --error --text "${FILENAME} is not a symbolic link!";
        exit 2
    fi
fi

NewLink=$(zenity --entry --text "Enter new symbolic link")
ln -sf "$NewLink" "${FILENAME}"

exit 0
EOF