How do I fix a broken Symbolic Link?
 

Help!

I am running Netscape 7.1 on RedHat 8.0. Some of the website I visit use Java applets, and the JRE was not included in the Netscape install. I went to the Netscape site to get the plugin which directed me to the Sun site for the actual download. I was able to install the downloaded file and the resulting plugin was placed exactly where the instructions said it would be.

The instructions also said to do not copy the plugin program to the plugin directory, but to create a sybolic link, or pages containing applets would fail. When I created the link it shows on the ls display as blinking red, and in nautilus shows as a broken link.

Here are the commands I used to create the link. I am logged in as root.

cd /usr/local/netscape/plugins
ln -s /usr/java/jre1.5.0/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so

The program does exist in the target directory with permissions 755. The broken link has permissions 777.

Any help would be appreciated. I normally try all I can think of to resolve issues like this myself but even after RTFM I couldn't find an answer.

Thanks

Dick Gregory

You can just rm broken_link. After you remove it make the link below.

ln -s /usr/java/jre1.5.0/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so libjavaplugin_oji.so

Thanks peacebwitchu for your reply.

I still get the same results as before. I think that when you omit the name of the link you are creating it just takes it from the target filename.

Any other ideas?

Dick Gregory

Try

ln -svf /usr/java/jre1.5.0/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so .

Do no forget the dot at the end. Its a faster way of saying libjavaplugin_oji.so when you are under /usr/local/netscape/plugins.

The above will only work if /usr/java/jre1.5.0/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so exits. If it does not exist, you will have to find the java directory on your own.

Thanks Electro. Your suggestion is just what I needed. I must have been the missing dot at the end because the other options that you addad I don't think could have affected the outcome. I went back to my installation instructions, which I had printed out, and checked with a magnifying glass. There was no dot there, so the instructions were apparently faulty.

Anyhow, my applets work now and I am a happy camper.