Symman (Symlink Manager)

A lightweight, cross-platform command-line tool to manage, track, and health-check your symbolic links. Powered by Rust and SQLite.

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Table of Contents

• Symman (Symlink Manager)
  • Table of Contents
  • Features
  • Installation
    • 1. Download Pre-compiled Binaries (Recommended)
    • 2. Install via Cargo
    • 3. Build from Source
  • Usage
  • Platform Notes (Windows)
  • License

Features

• Centralized Tracking: All created symlinks are recorded in a local SQLite database.
• Cross-Platform: Works seamlessly on both Unix-like systems and Windows.
• Health Checks: Quickly scan your system for broken or missing symlinks.
• Smart Restore: Easily remove a symlink and automatically copy the target file/directory back to the original location.

Installation

1. Download Pre-compiled Binaries (Recommended)

You can download the latest pre-compiled binaries for your operating system from the Releases page. Just extract the executable and add it to your system's PATH.

2. Install via Cargo

If you have the Rust toolchain installed, you can easily install symman directly from crates.io:

cargo install symman

3. Build from Source

To compile manually, ensure you have Rust installed, then run:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/symman.git
cd symman
cargo build --release

Usage

Note: The first argument is where you want to CREATE the link. The second argument is the REAL target file/folder that already exists.

# Create a new symlink and name it 'my_config'
symman new /path/to/where/link/goes /path/to/real/target --name my_config

# List all managed symlinks
symman list

# Check health of all symlinks
symman check

# Remove a link (add --restore to copy original files back)
symman remove my_config --restore

Platform Notes (Windows)

Creating symbolic links on Windows requires specific permissions. If you encounter an "Insufficient Privilege" error, please do one of the following:

1. Enable Developer Mode (Recommended):
   • Windows 11: Settings > System > Advanced > Developer Mode > turn on "Developer Mode".
   • Windows 10: Settings > Privacy & security > For developers.
2. Run your terminal (PowerShell/CMD) as Administrator.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 (LGPL-3.0). See the LICENSE file for details.