Read the target path of a symbolic link

[maxthoursie]

It doesn't seem to be a way, without using java interop, of reading the target of a symlink if that target does not exist.

  (def source (fs/path "source"))
  (def target (fs/path "target"))  ;; Does not exist
  (fs/create-sym-link source target)

  ;; Wanted result, but using java interop
  (fs/file-name (java.nio.file.Files/readSymbolicLink source)) ; => "bar"

  ;; Failed attemptes
  (fs/file-name (fs/canonicalize source)) ; => "source"
  (fs/file-name (fs/canonicalize source {:nofollow-links true})) ; => "source"
  (fs/file-name (fs/real-path source)) ; NoSuchFileException
  (fs/file-name (fs/real-path source {:nofollow-links true})) ; => "source" 

  ;; Works if file exists
  (fs/create-file target)
  (fs/file-name (fs/canonicalize source)) ; => "target"
  (fs/file-name (fs/real-path source)) ; => "target"

[maxthoursie]

In unix it's called readlink

$ readlink source
target

Node calls it readlink too

> fs.readlink("source", console.log)
undefined
> null target 

[borkdude]

alright, fs/read-link seems like a good candidate name then