Issue #13772: Restored directory detection of targets in `os.symlink` on Windows, which was temporarily removed in Python 3.2.3 due to an incomplete implementation. The implementation now works even if the symlink is created in a location other than the current directory.

1 files changed, 5 insertions, 3 deletions

diff --git a/Doc/library/os.rst b/Doc/library/os.rst
index 6d4fb04..8bbb2ec 100644
--- a/Doc/library/os.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/os.rst
@@ -2023,9 +2023,10 @@ features:
    Create a symbolic link pointing to *source* named *link_name*.
 
    On Windows, a symlink represents either a file or a directory, and does not
-   morph to the target dynamically.  If *target_is_directory* is set to ``True``,
-   the symlink will be created as a directory symlink, otherwise as a file symlink
-   (the default).  On non-Window platforms, *target_is_directory* is ignored.
+   morph to the target dynamically.  If the target is present, the type of the
+   symlink will be created to match. Otherwise, the symlink will be created
+   as a directory if *target_is_directory* is ``True`` or a file symlink (the
+   default) otherwise.  On non-Window platforms, *target_is_directory* is ignored.
 
    Symbolic link support was introduced in Windows 6.0 (Vista).  :func:`symlink`
    will raise a :exc:`NotImplementedError` on Windows versions earlier than 6.0.
@@ -2041,6 +2042,7 @@ features:
       to the administrator level. Either obtaining the privilege or running your
       application as an administrator are ways to successfully create symlinks.
 
+
       :exc:`OSError` is raised when the function is called by an unprivileged
       user.