Windows: cdktf deploy - symlink not permitted

[Satak]

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cdktf & Language Versions

cdktf version : 0.0.12-pre.4c00f2bafb17b79dcf2310a2a85a4ef9ed6518a1
TypeScript

Affected Resource(s)

All, Docker example

Debug Output

❯ cdktf deploy
⠸ synthesizing ...
internal/fs/utils.js:298
    throw err;
    ^

Error: EPERM: operation not permitted, symlink 'C:\Dev\satak\terraform-vm-test\.terraform' -> 'C:\Dev\satak\terraform-vm-test\cdktf.out\.terraform'
    at Object.symlinkSync (fs.js:1121:3)
    at MyStack.linkDotTerraform (C:\Dev\satak\terraform-vm-test\node_modules\cdktf\lib\terraform-stack.js:98:16)
    at MyStack.onSynthesize (C:\Dev\satak\terraform-vm-test\node_modules\cdktf\lib\terraform-stack.js:91:14)
    at Node.synthesize (C:\Dev\satak\terraform-vm-test\node_modules\constructs\lib\construct.js:342:27)
    at App.synth (C:\Dev\satak\terraform-vm-test\node_modules\cdktf\lib\app.js:32:36)
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Dev\satak\terraform-vm-test\main.js:26:5)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1201:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1221:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1050:32)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:938:14) {
  errno: -4048,
  syscall: 'symlink',
  code: 'EPERM',
  path: 'C:\\Dev\\satak\\terraform-vm-test\\.terraform',
  dest: 'C:\\Dev\\satak\\terraform-vm-test\\cdktf.out\\.terraform'
⠼ synthesizing ...

Expected Behavior

deploy should work without elevated (terminal opened as admin) rights

Actual Behavior

Deploy fails on permissions while trying to create symlink

Steps to Reproduce

Try to deploy Docker example with TypeScript on VS Code terminal (pwsh 7.0) from terminal that is not opened as admin

Other

I can't open my terminal as admin since it's not company policy to have terminals opened as admin. Make a workaround to copy files without symlink, like:

try {
  fs.symlinkSync(absoluteFilePath, outputFilePath);
} catch(e) {
  const conentStr = fs.readFileSync(absoluteFilePath);
  fs.writeFileSync(outputFilePath, conentStr);
}

[skorfmann]

Thanks for your bug report.

The symlink is for the .terraform directory and it's purpose is to avoid re-downloading the Terraform providers. Besides from making these providers survive a removal of the cdktf.out directory, another intent was caching between cdktf get runs. I think cdktf get runs in a temp directory now and doesn't benefit from this anymore.

Alternatively, we should think about fully leveraging Terraform provider caching to have a more robust way of handling this.

This could be done by:

• Documenting how to do it (e.g. via env)
• Getting rid of the symlink logic in the code

what do you think? /cc @anubhavmishra

[skorfmann]

Getting rid of the symlink would also fix this issue #189

[github-actions]

I'm going to lock this issue because it has been closed for 30 days. This helps our maintainers find and focus on the active issues. If you've found a problem that seems similar to this, please open a new issue and complete the issue template so we can capture all the details necessary to investigate further.