Subject: bug#38542: 27.0.50; Cannot create symlinks in Emacs on Windows 10 using Dired command S

From: Raoul Comninos <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2019 07:11:46 +0200

In Emacs Dired (in Windows 10) one cannot create a symlink using the
shortcut command S, as one expects. The symlink can be created if one
uses M-x make-symbolic-link. However, this is not the case if one simply
uses S. The command results in an error saying that the file-already
exists. Also, instead if offering the user a destination for the
symlink, the message in the message buffer identifies the source of the
symlink.

In GNU Emacs 27.0.50 (build 1, x86_64-w64-mingw32)
 of 2019-12-07 built on DESKTOP-M4UH92U
Repository revision: 959bbf30032c365c9e6f08dc9211d6bab3123f35
Repository branch: master
Windowing system distributor 'Microsoft Corp.', version 10.0.18363
System Description: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (v10.0.1909.18363.476)

Recent messages:
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Configured features:
XPM JPEG TIFF GIF PNG RSVG SOUND DBUS NOTIFY W32NOTIFY ACL GNUTLS
LIBXML2 HARFBUZZ ZLIB TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS MODULES THREADS JSON PDUMPER
LCMS2 GMP

Important settings:
  value of $LANG: ENU
  locale-coding-system: cp1252

Major mode: Org

Minor modes in effect:
  shell-dirtrack-mode: t
  flyspell-mode: t
  forward-w.-mode: t
  winner-mode: t
  recentf-mode: t
  pdf-occur-global-minor-mode: t
  savehist-mode: t
  display-time-mode: t
  delete-selection-mode: t
  persistent-scratch-autosave-mode: t
  override-global-mode: t
  tooltip-mode: t
  global-eldoc-mode: t
  electric-indent-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  menu-bar-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  column-number-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  global-visual-line-mode: t
  visual-line-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t
  abbrev-mode: t

Load-path shadows:
~/.emacs.d/contrib/ox-pandoc/ox-pandoc hides
g:/Documents/.emacs.d/elpa/ox-pandoc-1.150707/ox-pandoc
g:/Documents/.emacs.d/elpa/ox-odt-9.2.6.263/ox-odt hides
c:/msys64/mingw64/share/emacs/27.0.50/lisp/org/ox-odt

Features:
(shadow sort mail-extr org-clock emacsbug sendmail tramp tramp-loaddefs
trampver tramp-integration files-x tramp-compat shell flyspell ispell
face-remap dired-aux dired-x org-tempo tempo ox-pandoc ht dash ox-org
re-builder rx ox-reveal ox-odt rng-loc rng-uri rng-parse rng-match
rng-dt rng-util rng-pttrn nxml-parse nxml-ns nxml-enc xmltok nxml-util
ox-latex ox-icalendar ox-html table ox-ascii ox-publish ox winner
two-column use-package-bind-key remember recentf tree-widget pdf-occur
ibuf-ext ibuffer ibuffer-loaddefs tablist tablist-filter
semantic/wisent/comp semantic/wisent semantic/wisent/wisent
semantic/util-modes semantic/util semantic semantic/tag semantic/lex
semantic/fw mode-local cedet pdf-isearch let-alist pdf-misc imenu
pdf-tools compile cus-edit cus-start cus-load pdf-view bookmark pp
pdf-cache pdf-info tq pdf-util hydra lv savehist iso-transl
goto-last-change edmacro kmacro find-dired generic time delsel
org-element avl-tree generator ol-eww ol-rmail ol-mhe ol-irc ol-info
ol-gnus nnir gnus-sum url url-proxy url-privacy url-expand url-methods
url-history mailcap shr url-cookie url-domsuf url-util svg xml dom
gnus-group gnus-undo gnus-start gnus-cloud nnimap nnmail mail-source
utf7 netrc nnoo parse-time iso8601 gnus-spec gnus-int gnus-range message
rmc puny rfc822 mml mml-sec epa derived epg epg-config mm-decode
mm-bodies mm-encode mail-parse rfc2231 mailabbrev gmm-utils mailheader
gnus-win gnus nnheader gnus-util rmail rmail-loaddefs rfc2047 rfc2045
ietf-drums text-property-search mail-utils mm-util mail-prsvr wid-edit
ol-docview doc-view jka-compr image-mode exif dired dired-loaddefs
ol-bibtex bibtex ol-bbdb ol-w3m persistent-scratch bind-key org ob
ob-tangle ob-ref ob-lob ob-table ob-exp org-macro org-footnote org-src
ob-comint org-pcomplete pcomplete comint ansi-color ring org-list
org-faces org-entities time-date noutline outline easy-mmode org-version
ob-emacs-lisp ob-core ob-eval org-table ol org-keys org-compat advice
org-macs org-loaddefs format-spec find-func cal-menu calendar
cal-loaddefs zenburn-theme cl-extra help-mode use-package-ensure
use-package-core finder-inf cl info package easymenu browse-url
url-handlers url-parse auth-source cl-seq eieio eieio-core cl-macs
eieio-loaddefs password-cache json subr-x map url-vars seq byte-opt gv
bytecomp byte-compile cconv cl-loaddefs cl-lib tooltip eldoc electric
uniquify ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type mwheel dos-w32 ls-lisp
disp-table term/w32-win w32-win w32-vars term/common-win tool-bar dnd
fontset image regexp-opt fringe tabulated-list replace newcomment
text-mode elisp-mode lisp-mode prog-mode register page tab-bar menu-bar
rfn-eshadow isearch timer select scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock
syntax facemenu font-core term/tty-colors frame minibuffer cl-generic
cham georgian utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese tibetan thai tai-viet lao
korean japanese eucjp-ms cp51932 hebrew greek romanian slovak czech
european ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese composite charscript charprop
case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev obarray
cl-preloaded nadvice loaddefs button faces cus-face macroexp files
text-properties overlay sha1 md5 base64 format env code-pages mule
custom widget hashtable-print-readable backquote threads w32notify
dbusbind w32 lcms2 multi-tty make-network-process emacs)

Memory information:
((conses 16 332200 61058)
 (symbols 48 33878 2)
 (strings 32 111058 4913)
 (string-bytes 1 3475247)
 (vectors 16 44400)
 (vector-slots 8 551313 402518)
 (floats 8 313 201)
 (intervals 56 2939 2118)
 (buffers 1000 52))