Puppet Community

I can't even figure out where :replace is used

Setting `ensure =&gt; link` calls the `mklink` method.
• <https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppet/blob/7.17.0/lib/puppet/type/file/ensure.rb#L104>
`mklink` then just replaces the link and doesn’t look for `replace` at all:
• <https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppet/blob/7.17.0/lib/puppet/type/file/target.rb#L34-L61>

But yeah, that seems wrong either way actually

ya, trivial to reproduce with
```file { '/foo/foo':
  ensure  =&gt; link,
  replace =&gt; false,
  target  =&gt; 'bar',
}```

Yeah, the docs seem to indicate that links shouldn't be replaced if they exist

<https://puppet.com/docs/puppet/7/types/file.html#file-attribute-replace>

This bit is the key:
&gt; but whose content doesn’t match what the `source` or `content` attribute
Which implies the docs were written with the assumption that you’re replacing a symlink with a file (`ensure =&gt; file`) that has contents.

Those docs weren’t written to account for the case where the existing thing is already a symlink and you’re making another symlink.

Hrm...yeah, I think that nuance is a bit too subtle

Because the content of a symlink is an inode

I got there... but not until after looking at the source

which completely violates the boundary between a type and provider

Eh...there is no boundary in reality :smile:

oh look: <https://tickets.puppetlabs.com/browse/PUP-10214>

<https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppet/pull/8643>

Ah, here’s the still-open ticket that the above was marked as a duplicate of: <https://tickets.puppetlabs.com/browse/PUP-6998>

<@U11567REE> What sort of bribery is needed to get this PR merged? <https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppet/pull/8643> I assume it needs tests