file: support exporting files as a symlink

src/datachain/lib/dc.py

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
     BinaryIO,
     Callable,
     ClassVar,
+    Literal,
     Optional,
     TypeVar,
     Union,
@@ -2415,19 +2416,30 @@ def setup(self, **kwargs) -> "Self":
     def export_files(
         self,
         output: str,
-        signal="file",
+        signal: str = "file",
         placement: FileExportPlacement = "fullpath",
         use_cache: bool = True,
+        link_type: Literal["copy", "symlink"] = "copy",
     ) -> None:
-        """Method that exports all files from chain to some folder."""
+        """Export files from a specified signal to a directory.
+
+        Args:
+            output: Path to the target directory for exporting files.
+            signal: Name of the signal to export files from.
+            placement: The method to use for naming exported files.
+                The possible values are: "filename", "etag", "fullpath", and "checksum".
+            use_cache: If `True`, cache the files before exporting.
+            link_type: Method to use for exporting files.
+                Falls back to `'copy'` if symlinking fails.
+        """
         if placement == "filename" and (
             self._query.distinct(pathfunc.name(C(f"{signal}__path"))).count()
             != self._query.count()
         ):
             raise ValueError("Files with the same name found")
 
         for file in self.collect(signal):
-            file.export(output, placement, use_cache)  # type: ignore[union-attr]
+            file.export(output, placement, use_cache, link_type=link_type)  # type: ignore[union-attr]
 
     def shuffle(self) -> "Self":
         """Shuffle the rows of the chain deterministically."""

src/datachain/lib/file.py

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import errno
 import hashlib
 import io
 import json
@@ -236,11 +237,26 @@
         with open(destination, mode="wb") as f:
             f.write(self.read())
 
+    def _symlink_to(self, destination: str):
+        if self.location:
+            raise OSError(errno.ENOTSUP, "Symlinking virtual file is not supported")
+
+        if self._caching_enabled:
+            self.ensure_cached()
+            source = self.get_local_path()
+            assert source, "File was not cached"
+        elif self.source.startswith("file://"):
+            source = self.get_path()
+        else:
+            raise OSError(errno.EXDEV, "can't link across filesystems")
+        return os.symlink(source, destination)
+
     def export(
         self,
         output: str,
         placement: ExportPlacement = "fullpath",
         use_cache: bool = True,
+        link_type: Literal["copy", "symlink"] = "copy",
     ) -> None:
         """Export file to new location."""
         if use_cache:
@@ -249,6 +265,13 @@
         dst_dir = os.path.dirname(dst)
         os.makedirs(dst_dir, exist_ok=True)
 
+        if link_type == "symlink":
+            try:
+                return self._symlink_to(dst)
+            except OSError as exc:
+                if exc.errno not in (errno.ENOTSUP, errno.EXDEV, errno.ENOSYS):
+                    raise
+
         self.save(dst)
 
     def _set_stream(

tests/unit/lib/test_file.py

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import json
+from pathlib import Path
 from unittest.mock import Mock
 
 import pytest
@@ -379,3 +380,18 @@ def test_get_local_path(tmp_path, catalog):
     assert file.get_local_path() is None
     file.ensure_cached()
     assert file.get_local_path() is not None
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("use_cache", (True, False))
+def test_export_with_symlink(tmp_path, catalog, use_cache):
+    path = tmp_path / "myfile.txt"
+    path.write_text("some text")
+
+    file = File(path=path.name, source=tmp_path.as_uri())
+    file._set_stream(catalog, use_cache)
+
+    file.export(tmp_path / "dir", link_type="symlink", use_cache=use_cache)
+    assert (tmp_path / "dir" / "myfile.txt").is_symlink()
+
+    dst = Path(file.get_local_path()) if use_cache else path
+    assert (tmp_path / "dir" / "myfile.txt").resolve() == dst