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I am installing p4v in /opt, but /usr/bin is on my path. Is it possible to create a soft or symbolic link for p4v from /opt to /usr/bin, so I can just type "p4v" since /usr/bin is in my path?

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stackoverflow.com/questions/1951742/… – Dante Aug 8 '16 at 11:21
up vote 420 down vote accepted

See man ln.
To create a symlink /usr/bin/bar => /opt/foo, (i.e., create a symlink at /usr/bin/bar which references the original file /opt/foo) do:

ln -s /opt/foo /usr/bin/bar

You would need to apply the above command as root (with sudo).

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I am using: sudo ln –s /etc/apache2/sites-available/redmine /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-redmine getting error: ln: target '/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-redmine' is not a directory – RAJ ... Aug 4 '12 at 7:29
    
@RAJ...: Perhaps an example can help ln -s /etc/vim/vimrc /home/paf/Copy/Programming/Apps/Tools/Vim – pablofiumara Nov 11 '13 at 18:31
    
The Ubuntu documentation says " Creates hard links by default, symbolic links with --symbolic." Will the above solution create a symbolic link as asked by OP? – Tanay May 26 '15 at 5:27
4  
I though César wanted to put his files in the /opt and /usr/bin to have the symbolic link, not other way around. – mishap Nov 26 '15 at 23:41
3  
@mishap is right as far as I'm concerned. It's the other way around. – Daniel Szmulewicz Dec 18 '15 at 17:05
up vote 21 down vote

The error is that you are writing the command wrong. The correct way is

ln -s /<full>/<path>/<to>/<file> /usr/local/bin

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2001697

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up vote 19 down vote

If the 'p4v' executable is at /opt/bin/p4v, you can simply run:

sudo ln -s /opt/bin/p4v /usr/bin/p4v
sudo chmod ugo+x /usr/bin/p4v

It would be better to add /opt/bin (or wherever the executable is) to your path:

echo "export PATH=\$PATH:/opt/bin" >> ~/.profile
reset
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~/.profile would be better for setting $PATH. – Lekensteyn Aug 8 '11 at 19:30
    
you can edit /etc/environment to modify PATH system wide. – Michał Šrajer Aug 8 '11 at 19:44
up vote 4 down vote

Check the software location by this. 

which application-name #replace for the application you are looking for

for example 

which skype

output will be this. 

/usr/bin/skype

To create the soft link. for example you want to create the soft link for skype on your desktop

ln -s /usr/bin/skype ~/Desktop/

For more information about ln. 

man ln

or 

ln --help
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up vote 0 down vote

If it is saying target is not a folder, it means there are spaces in your folder names eg: New Folder has a space

You need to edit the path and add a backslash \ after every space in the paths

eg: 

ln -s /opt/bin /usr/var/New\ Folder
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2  
This is not an answer to the OPs question. Please wait until you have enough reputation to add comments. – derHugo Nov 9 '17 at 5:59
up vote 0 down vote 
$ln -s -n ./TargetDirectory ./Nickname

Note, this works if you both nodes are below you in the same tree. You can use relative notation

-s command makes it a symbolic link -n makes it possible de create a folder-type symlink

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Welcome to askubuntu.com. In this case the $ to indicate a command line prompt is a style choice, and not likely to be a problem. However bear in mind that including things in a code block other than the code and its output can cause confusion. – J. Starnes Dec 12 '17 at 0:42

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