From ac41bfa374d67023970b26dc7117c878dfb58d06 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Karsten Blees Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2026 20:05:07 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] mingw: handle symlinks to directories in `mingw_unlink()` The `_wunlink()` and `DeleteFileW()` functions refuse to delete symlinks to directories on Windows; The error code would be `ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED` in that case. Take that error code as an indicator that we need to try `_wrmdir()` as well. In the best case, it will remove a symlink. In the worst case, it will fail with the same error code again. Signed-off-by: Karsten Blees Signed-off-by: Johannes Schindelin Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano --- compat/mingw.c | 9 ++++++++- 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/compat/mingw.c b/compat/mingw.c index 0e8807196f..b1cc30d0f1 100644 --- a/compat/mingw.c +++ b/compat/mingw.c @@ -338,9 +338,16 @@ int mingw_unlink(const char *pathname, int handle_in_use_error) return 0; if (!is_file_in_use_error(GetLastError())) break; + /* + * _wunlink() / DeleteFileW() for directory symlinks fails with + * ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED (EACCES), so try _wrmdir() as well. This is the + * same error we get if a file is in use (already checked above). + */ + if (!_wrmdir(wpathname)) + return 0; + if (!handle_in_use_error) return -1; - } while (retry_ask_yes_no(&tries, "Unlink of file '%s' failed. " "Should I try again?", pathname)); return -1;