Can GNU Stow use a stow target directory that is a symbolic link?

[issenn]

mkdir -p /usr/local/Cellar/app/0.36.2/{bin,etc}

touch /usr/local/Cellar/app/0.36.2/{LICENSE,README.md}
touch /usr/local/Cellar/app/0.36.2/bin/cmd

ln -s  /usr/local/Cellar/app/0.36.2  /usr/local/opt/app


mkdir -p ~/dotfiles/app-config/opt/app/

touch  ~/dotfiles/app-config/opt/app/homebrew.mxcl.app.plist

cd ~/dotfiles/app-config/opt/
stow -v5 -n --no-folding --dir=. --target=/usr/local/opt/

Output

  read_a_link(app): real link
  Evaluate existing link: app => ../Cellar/app/0.36.2
  is path ../Cellar/app/0.36.2 owned by stow?
    no - either ../Cellar/app/0.36.2 not under ../../../Users/issenn/dotfiles/app-config/opt or vice-versa
CONFLICT when stowing .: existing target is not owned by stow: app

[aspiers]

Sorry I can't reproduce this. I get:

stow: No packages to stow or unstow

which is also unsurprising because the stow command didn't specify which package to stow. But even if I guess that the package to stow was app, then I can't reproduce the error since it works fine for me. The output you pasted doesn't seem to match the commands listed for reproduction. For example,

Evaluate existing link: app => ../Cellar/app/0.36.2

indicates a relative symlink, but your setup creates absolute symlinks. Please can you paste the exact sequence of commands you used, and the full output from Stow, not just select lines?

[issenn]

@aspiers Sorry, I missed the package name. I reproduced it again, this is my script and output log.

#!/usr/bin/env sh


base_dir="$(dirname -- "$(realpath $0)")"/stow-test-symbolic-link

target="${base_dir}"

app_name="app"
app_ver="0.36.2"

rm -rf "${base_dir}"

echo "${base_dir}" "${app_name}" "${app_ver}"

mkdir -p "${base_dir}"/{Cellar,opt,etc,dotfiles}

# create source file with version
mkdir -p "${base_dir}"/Cellar/"${app_name}"/"${app_ver}"/{bin,etc}

touch "${base_dir}"/Cellar/"${app_name}"/"${app_ver}"/{LICENSE,README.md}
touch "${base_dir}"/Cellar/"${app_name}"/"${app_ver}"/bin/cmd
touch "${base_dir}"/Cellar/"${app_name}"/"${app_ver}"/etc/cmd.conf.example

# create symbolic link folder without version
ln -snf "${base_dir}"/Cellar/"${app_name}"/"${app_ver}" "${base_dir}"/opt/"${app_name}"


# create app config in dotfiles
mkdir -p "${base_dir}"/dotfiles/"${app_name}"-config/{opt,etc}/"${app_name}"

touch "${base_dir}"/dotfiles/"${app_name}"-config/opt/"${app_name}"/homebrew.mxcl."${app_name}".plist
touch "${base_dir}"/dotfiles/"${app_name}"-config/etc/"${app_name}"/cmd.conf

echo ""
echo "########################################################################"
echo "########## file structure - before stow                       ##########"
echo "########################################################################"
echo ""

tree -a "${base_dir}"

echo ""
echo "########################################################################"
echo "########## stow use target directory that is normal directory ##########"
echo "########################################################################"
echo ""

stow -S --no-folding --dir="${base_dir}"/dotfiles/"${app_name}"-config/opt --target="${target}"/opt/"${app_name}" "${app_name}"
[[ -d "${target}"/etc/"${app_name}" ]] || mkdir "${target}"/etc/"${app_name}"
stow -S --no-folding --dir="${base_dir}"/dotfiles/"${app_name}"-config/etc --target="${target}"/etc/"${app_name}" "${app_name}"

tree -a "${base_dir}"

stow -D --no-folding --dir="${base_dir}"/dotfiles/"${app_name}"-config/opt --target="${target}"/opt/"${app_name}" "${app_name}"
stow -D --no-folding --dir="${base_dir}"/dotfiles/"${app_name}"-config/etc --target="${target}"/etc/"${app_name}" "${app_name}"

echo ""
echo "########################################################################"
echo "########## stow use target directory that is a symbolic link  ##########"
echo "########################################################################"
echo ""

# "${target}"/opt/"${app_name}" is a symbolic link
stow -S -v5 -n --no-folding --dir="${base_dir}"/dotfiles/"${app_name}"-config --target="${target}"/opt opt
[[ -d "${target}"/etc/"${app_name}" ]] && rm -rf "${target}"/etc/"${app_name}"
stow -S --no-folding --dir="${base_dir}"/dotfiles/"${app_name}"-config --target="${target}"/etc etc

tree -a "${base_dir}"

# stow -D -v5 -n --no-folding --dir="${base_dir}"/dotfiles/"${app_name}"-config --target="${target}"/opt opt
stow -D --no-folding --dir="${base_dir}"/dotfiles/"${app_name}"-config --target="${target}"/etc etc

output.log

/Users/issenn/Downloads/aaaa/stow-test-symbolic-link app 0.36.2

########################################################################
########## file structure - before stow                       ##########
########################################################################

/Users/issenn/Downloads/aaaa/stow-test-symbolic-link
├── Cellar
│   └── app
│       └── 0.36.2
│           ├── LICENSE
│           ├── README.md
│           ├── bin
│           │   └── cmd
│           └── etc
│               └── cmd.conf.example
├── dotfiles
│   └── app-config
│       ├── etc
│       │   └── app
│       │       └── cmd.conf
│       └── opt
│           └── app
│               └── homebrew.mxcl.app.plist
├── etc
└── opt
    └── app -> /Users/issenn/Downloads/aaaa/stow-test-symbolic-link/Cellar/app/0.36.2

14 directories, 6 files

########################################################################
########## stow use target directory that is normal directory ##########
########################################################################

/Users/issenn/Downloads/aaaa/stow-test-symbolic-link
├── Cellar
│   └── app
│       └── 0.36.2
│           ├── LICENSE
│           ├── README.md
│           ├── bin
│           │   └── cmd
│           ├── etc
│           │   └── cmd.conf.example
│           └── homebrew.mxcl.app.plist -> ../../../dotfiles/app-config/opt/app/homebrew.mxcl.app.plist
├── dotfiles
│   └── app-config
│       ├── etc
│       │   └── app
│       │       └── cmd.conf
│       └── opt
│           └── app
│               └── homebrew.mxcl.app.plist
├── etc
│   └── app
│       └── cmd.conf -> ../../dotfiles/app-config/etc/app/cmd.conf
└── opt
    └── app -> /Users/issenn/Downloads/aaaa/stow-test-symbolic-link/Cellar/app/0.36.2

15 directories, 8 files

########################################################################
########## stow use target directory that is a symbolic link  ##########
########################################################################

stow dir is /Users/issenn/Downloads/aaaa/stow-test-symbolic-link/dotfiles/app-config
stow dir path relative to target /Users/issenn/Downloads/aaaa/stow-test-symbolic-link/opt is ../dotfiles/app-config
cwd now /Users/issenn/Downloads/aaaa/stow-test-symbolic-link/opt
cwd restored to /Users/issenn/Downloads/aaaa
cwd now /Users/issenn/Downloads/aaaa/stow-test-symbolic-link/opt
Planning stow of package opt...
. not protected
Stowing contents of ../dotfiles/app-config/opt (cwd=~/Downloads/aaaa/stow-test-symbolic-link/opt)
  => ../dotfiles/app-config/opt
  is_a_node(.)
  link_task_action(.): no task
  dir_task_action(.): no task
    parent_link_scheduled_for_removal(.): prefix 
    parent_link_scheduled_for_removal(.): returning false
  is_a_node(.): really exists
  ../dotfiles/app-config/opt/.stow-local-ignore didn't exist
  Using ignore file: /Users/issenn/.stow-global-ignore
    Ignore list regexp for paths:    /(?^:(^|/)(^/COPYING|^/\.stow\-local\-ignore$|^/README.*|^/LICENSE.*|^/@.*)(/|$))/
    Ignore list regexp for segments: /(?^:^(\.gitkeep|\.svn|\.git|\.hg|\.gitmodules|.*.swp|_darcs|\.cvsignore|RCS|\.DS_Store|.*\.md|#.*#|.+~|CVS|\.gitignore|.+,v|.*.example|\.#.+)$)/
  Not ignoring app
Stowing ../dotfiles/app-config / opt / app
  => ../dotfiles/app-config/opt/app
  is_a_link(app)
  link_task_action(app): no task
  is_a_link(app): is a real link
    parent_link_scheduled_for_removal(app): prefix app
    parent_link_scheduled_for_removal(app): returning false
  link_task_action(app): no task
  read_a_link(app): real link
  Evaluate existing link: app => /Users/issenn/Downloads/aaaa/stow-test-symbolic-link/Cellar/app/0.36.2
  is path /Users/issenn/Downloads/aaaa/stow-test-symbolic-link/Cellar/app/0.36.2 owned by stow?
BUG in find_stowed_path? Absolute/relative mismatch between Stow dir ../dotfiles/app-config and path /Users/issenn/Downloads/aaaa/stow-test-symbolic-link/Cellar/app/0.36.2 at /usr/local/Cellar/stow/2.3.1//Library/Perl/5.18/Stow.pm line 966.
    no - either /Users/issenn/Downloads/aaaa/stow-test-symbolic-link/Cellar/app/0.36.2 not under ../dotfiles/app-config or vice-versa
CONFLICT when stowing opt: existing target is not owned by stow: app
Planning stow of package opt... done
cwd restored to /Users/issenn/Downloads/aaaa
WARNING! stowing opt would cause conflicts:
  * existing target is not owned by stow: app
All operations aborted.
/Users/issenn/Downloads/aaaa/stow-test-symbolic-link
├── Cellar
│   └── app
│       └── 0.36.2
│           ├── LICENSE
│           ├── README.md
│           ├── bin
│           │   └── cmd
│           └── etc
│               └── cmd.conf.example
├── dotfiles
│   └── app-config
│       ├── etc
│       │   └── app
│       │       └── cmd.conf
│       └── opt
│           └── app
│               └── homebrew.mxcl.app.plist
├── etc
│   └── app
│       └── cmd.conf -> ../../dotfiles/app-config/etc/app/cmd.conf
└── opt
    └── app -> /Users/issenn/Downloads/aaaa/stow-test-symbolic-link/Cellar/app/0.36.2

15 directories, 7 files

I don't want to create stow link for the directory, but to create stow link for all files.