removeDirectory and symlinks

[gracjan]

Prelude System.Directory> :!mkdir "a-directory"
Prelude System.Directory> :!ln -s "a-directory" "a-symlink-to-a-directory"
Prelude System.Directory> doesDirectoryExist "a-symlink-to-a-directory"
True
Prelude System.Directory> removeDirectory "a-symlink-to-a-directory"
*** Exception: a-symlink-to-a-directory: removeDirectory: inappropriate type (Not a directory)

[hvr]

...what should happen instead?

[ezyang]

Well, this behavior is at least consistent with how Python's os.rmdir and os.path.isdir operate.

[argiopetech]

This is also consistent with the way the GNU coreutils operate:

$ mkdir a-directory
$ ln -s a-directory a-symlink-to-a-directory
$ test -d a-directory/
$ echo $?
0
$ test -d a-symlink-to-a-directory/
$ echo $?
0
$ rmdir a-symlink-to-a-directory
rmdir: failed to remove ‘a-symlink-to-a-directory’: Not a directory

Pending a compelling reason to change the behavior of removeDirectory, I'm going to close this issue.

[gracjan]

Agree.