Problem following symbolic links on remote machine

WinSCP 3.6,1 (Build 221)
Protocol: SFTP (V2)
Norton Commander UI

Server information:
SSH Protocol version: 2
SSH implementation: Sun_SSH_1.0
Encryption algorithm: aes
Compression: No

Protocol capabilities/information:
Can change permissions: Yes
Can change owner/group: No/No
Can execute arbitrary command: No
Can create symlink/hardlink: No
Can lookup user groups: No
Native text (ASCII) mode transfers: No

The server does not support any SFTP extension.

When listing home directory (/home/maria) on remote computer, all symbolic links to directories are shown using Windows generic file icon (white background with Windows logo) and a small arrow in the bottom left corner like shortcuts in Windows. When double clicking such a link (.public in this case), WinSCP tries to download it and gives up with the following error message

General failure.
Error code: 4
Error message from server: None (*)
Request code: 5

The log file says

File: "/home/maria/.public"
Copying "/home/maria/.public" to local directory started.
Binary transfer mode selected.
Opening remote file.
Type: SSH_FXP_OPEN, Size: 36, Number: 95491
Type: SSH_FXP_HANDLE, Size: 13, Number: 95491
Type: SSH_FXP_READ, Size: 25, Number: 95749
Status/error code: 4, Message: 95749, Server: None, Language: *
1 skipped SSH_FXP_WRITE, SSH_FXP_READ, SSH_FXP_DATA and SSH_FXP_STATUS packets.
Type: SSH_FXP_CLOSE, Size: 13, Number: 96004
Type: SSH_FXP_STATUS, Size: 9, Number: 96004
Status/error code: 0


The link named .public points to /lysator/www/user-pages/maria and the directory /lysator is a link to /mp/lysator and /mp is and ordinary directory. The directory /mp/lysator/www is an ordinary directory, but /mp/lysator/www/user-pages is a link to /mp/user-pages. :)

WinSCP does not know that the symlink points to directory as your server supports only protocol SFTP version 2, which provides no way for client to resolve symlink.

While it is not explicitly stated, the item "Can create symlink/hardlink: No" says it (it should include "can resolve symlink").

martin wrote:

WinSCP does not know that the symlink points to directory as your server supports only protocol SFTP version 2, which provides no way for client to resolve symlink.

FileZilla resolves this problem this way:

- symlinks are assumed to point to directories
- when the users opens a symlink and the CD command fails, assume the symlink points to a file

This works rather well, as opposed to WinSCP which currently does not support directory symlinks on Solaris systems at all.