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fredbird67

Member

Registered: 2025-08-28

Posts: 2  

"ln -sf" resulted in a broken link

I don't know if this is the correct sub-forum in which to post this or not.  If it isn't, please forgive me.  Anyways, I am trying to switch my distribution, F3OS, from Debian to Devuan.  But I'm having a bit of a problem with LightDM.  I have created my own theme file that specifies what I want my log in screen to look like.  I tried to make /etc/alternatives/lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf link to my theme instead of the default Sapphire theme.  I could have sworn that "ln -sf (original) (symlinked file)" was the way to do it, but I guess not, as it has resulted in /etc/alternatives/ lightdm-gtk-greeter.conf being a broken link.  What am I doing wrong?

Thanx in advance,
Fred in West Plains, MO

ralph.ronnquist

Administrator

From: Battery Point, Tasmania, AUS

Registered: 2016-11-30

Posts: 1,491  

Re: "ln -sf" resulted in a broken link

Firstly, you should rather use "update-alternatives" for that job, just to tee up with that particular subsystem; the "alternatives" subsystem. I would suggest you read the man pages about it.

If you rather go your own way (and "break" that subsystem), then you would do well checking out the man page for "ln"... "ln -sf A B" creates a link (file), where A is the content of that link (file), and B is the pathname for the link (file) with that content. I.e., it looks like the order of arguments is the opposite to what you tried.

EDIT: always check the man pages; you cannot go wrong with that. It's really one of the most useful skills to have.

stargate-sg1-cheyenne-mtn

Member

Registered: 2023-11-27

Posts: 392  

Re: "ln -sf" resulted in a broken link

@fredbird67, welcome to the forum Fred(and a friendly wave from the sad state of "very-ill-noises"...sigh)

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fredbird67

Member

Registered: 2025-08-28

Posts: 2  

Re: "ln -sf" resulted in a broken link

Thanx, Ralph, I will give that a look.  But I'm also now tempted to just go with the default SLiM login manager instead and create my own SLiM theme for the Xfce and IceWM editions of my project.

But I do prefer to offer the extra functionality LightDM offers, such as language selection and remote login capabilities, so I will take a look when I get the chance.