Managing Symlinks

Challenge

You want to create a symlink using puppet.

Solution

class symlinker {

  # preferred symlink syntax
  file { '/tmp/link-to-motd':
    ensure => 'link',
    target => '/etc/motd',
  }

  # older, less clear syntax
  file { '/tmp/link-to-motd':
    ensure => '/etc/motd',
  }

}

Explanation

Although it may seem slightly counter intuitive at first you create and manage symlinks through the file type. It's worth noting that the title (in this example /tmp/link-to-motd) is the name of the link to create and the file name given in ensure is the file to link to. If you get these two options the wrong way around then you'll probably need to start reading the filebucket section.

The second example, with the target defined in the ensure, is essentially deprecated and should not be used. This will be detected by puppet-lint and appear as [ensure_not_symlink_target] symlink target specified in ensure attr.

See also

• Ensure Parameter Not A Symlink Target puppet-lint explanation
• Install and run puppet-lint checks