From 9fb927aa856eec92a58b6cfbf53438e4a48f71e2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Michael Debertol <michael.debertol@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2021 17:49:04 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] cp: always delete the destination for symlinks

---
 src/uu/cp/src/cp.rs      |  5 +++++
 tests/by-util/test_cp.rs | 13 +++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 18 insertions(+)

diff --git a/src/uu/cp/src/cp.rs b/src/uu/cp/src/cp.rs
index cf723e4ee..840035e4a 100644
--- a/src/uu/cp/src/cp.rs
+++ b/src/uu/cp/src/cp.rs
@@ -1269,6 +1269,11 @@ fn copy_link(source: &Path, dest: &Path) -> CopyResult<()> {
             ),
         }
     } else {
+        // we always need to remove the file to be able to create a symlink,
+        // even if it is writeable.
+        if dest.exists() {
+            fs::remove_file(dest)?;
+        }
         dest.into()
     };
     symlink_file(&link, &dest, &*context_for(&link, &dest))
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_cp.rs b/tests/by-util/test_cp.rs
index 4ce587e02..19f93e499 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_cp.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_cp.rs
@@ -1325,3 +1325,16 @@ fn test_copy_dir_with_symlinks() {
     ucmd.args(&["-r", "dir", "copy"]).succeeds();
     assert_eq!(at.resolve_link("copy/file-link"), "file");
 }
+
+#[test]
+#[cfg(not(windows))]
+fn test_copy_symlink_force() {
+    let (at, mut ucmd) = at_and_ucmd!();
+    at.touch("file");
+    at.symlink_file("file", "file-link");
+    at.touch("copy");
+
+    ucmd.args(&["file-link", "copy", "-f", "--no-dereference"])
+        .succeeds();
+    assert_eq!(at.resolve_link("copy"), "file");
+}