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(stow.info)Conflicts

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Conflicts
=========

   If, during installation, a file or symlink exists in the target tree
and has the same name as something Stow needs to create, and if the
existing name is not a folded tree that can be split open, then a
"conflict" has arisen.  A conflict also occurs if a directory exists
where Stow needs to place a symlink to a non-directory.  On the other
hand, if the existing name is merely a symlink that already points
where Stow needs it to, then no conflict has occurred.  (Thus it is
harmless to install a package that has already been installed.)

   A conflict causes Stow to exit immediately and print a warning
(unless `-c' is given), even if that means aborting an installation in
mid-package.

   When running Stow with the `-n' or `-c' options, no actual
filesystem-modifying operations take place.  Thus if a folded tree would
have been split open, but instead was left in place because `-n' or
`-c' was used, then Stow will report a "false conflict", since the
directory that Stow was expecting to populate has remained an
unpopulatable symlink.