HELP with java issue: Too many levels of symbolic links

**topitz** · 22-Aug-2011, 20:37

after 'zypper dup' to 12.1 mile 3 i get this error in super user terminal:

# /usr/sbin/update-alternatives --config java
update-alternatives: error: cannot stat /usr/bin/gvim: Too many levels of symbolic link

any help is greatly appreciated ... theo

**ken_yap** · 22-Aug-2011, 20:43

As it says, you have too many levels of symbolic link indirection or even a loop. See where /usr/bin/gvim points to, follow it and see where it takes you, repeat until you find out where it eventually points in a real file or goes in a loop.

**topitz** · 22-Aug-2011, 20:46

i am pretty much a gui guy, who just started diving into cli ... how do i "[s]ee where /usr/bin/gvim points to, follow it and see where it takes you, repeat until you find out where it eventually points in a real file or goes in a loop."? ... i appreciate, if you could help me with the cl-code ... thanks, theo

**ken_yap** · 22-Aug-2011, 20:51

Code:

ls -l /usr/bin/gvim

then see where it links to, and repeat with the target.

**topitz** · 22-Aug-2011, 20:58

here is the output:

# ls -l /usr/bin/gvim
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Aug 22 06:05 /usr/bin/gvim -> vim
Apollo:~ # ls -l /usr/bin/vim
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Aug 22 00:31 /usr/bin/vim -> /bin/vim
Apollo:~ # ls -l /usr/bin/vin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Aug 22 00:32 /usr/bin/vim -> /bin/vim
Apollo:~ #

**ken_yap** · 22-Aug-2011, 21:10

Your third step is wrong, do:

ls -l /bin/vim

and continue.

**topitz** · 22-Aug-2011, 21:18

Originally Posted by ken_yap

Your third step is wrong, do:

ls -l /bin/vim

and continue.

intriguing ...

Apollo:~ # ls -l /bin/vim
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 Aug 22 00:31 /bin/vim -> /etc/alternatives/vim
Apollo:~ # ls -l /etc/alternatives/vim
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Jan 19 2011 /etc/alternatives/vim -> /usr/bin/gvim
Apollo:~ # ls -l /usr/bin/gvim
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Aug 22 06:05 /usr/bin/gvim -> vim
Apollo:~ #
i ended back at the beginning ... so ... what do i now to get my java working ... thanks for all your help
theo

**ken_yap** · 22-Aug-2011, 21:22

Do you have the package gvim installed? Maybe that will provide a real target file. (I don't have it installed so I can't say.)

**topitz** · 22-Aug-2011, 21:25

looks like i've got the package ...

zypper install gvim
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
'gvim' is already installed.
No update candidate for 'gvim-7.3-11.1.x86_64'. The highest available version is already installed.
Resolving package dependencies...

Nothing to do.
Apollo:~ #

**ken_yap** · 22-Aug-2011, 21:29

Since you are playing with 12.1M3 I can't say what would be the right thing to do here, but you could find where the real gvim is installed with:

rpm -ql gvim | grep gvim

One of those files will be the real binary, link to that:

ln -sf <the-real-gvim-path> /etc/alternatives/vim

I suspect you have a transitional issue due to playing around with a milestone release.