Create relative symlinks in python

relative_symlink.py

def relative_symlink(target: Union[Path, str], destination: Union[Path, str]):
    """Create a symlink pointing to ``target`` from ``location``.

    Args:
        target: The target of the symlink (the file/directory that is pointed to)
        destination: The location of the symlink itself.
    """
    target = Path(target)
    destination = Path(destination)
    target_dir = destination.parent
    target_dir.mkdir(exist_ok=True, parents=True)
    relative_source = os.path.relpath(target, target_dir)
    dir_fd = os.open(str(target_dir.absolute()), os.O_RDONLY)
    print(f"{relative_source} -> {destination.name} in {target_dir}")
    try:
        os.symlink(relative_source, destination.name, dir_fd=dir_fd)
    finally:
        os.close(dir_fd)

Works like a charm. Thank you 🙂

see also Creating a relative symlink in python without using os.chdir()

ideally this should be possible with pathlib.Path.symlink_to like

Path(target).absolute().symlink_to(
  Path(destination).absolute(),
  target_is_directory=Path(target).isdir(),
  relative_symlink=True,
)