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brokensword emptybottle portalmirror@ scrappile/ crystalhint

The Scrap Heap is a wasteland of discarded objects — broken swords, empty potion bottles, shattered mirrors. But hidden among the junk are portal mirrors, and learning ln -s lets you build instant teleportation.

🕹️ Play This Chamber

This page is your walkthrough and strategy guide — play right here in the browser, then follow the steps below.

{% include bashcrawl-terminal.html room="Scrap Heap" %}

🎯 Quest Objectives

  • Understand the difference between hard links and symbolic links
  • Create a symbolic link with ln -s
  • Identify symlinks with ls -l (look for ->)
  • Resolve the target of a symlink with readlink
  • Use the scrap's portal symlinks to shortcut navigation
  • Collect the portal crystal

🗺️ Quest Prerequisites

⚡ Command Cheatsheet

Command What It Does
ln -s target link_name Create a symbolic link pointing to target
ls -l Long listing — symlinks show link -> target
ls -F Symlinks show with @ marker
readlink link_name Print the target of a symlink
readlink -f link_name Print the fully-resolved absolute path
realpath path Same as readlink -f (more modern)

Note: readlink -f and realpath are GNU-only — they ship with Linux but not with stock macOS. macOS adventurers may need to install GNU coreutils (e.g. brew install coreutils, then greadlink/grealpath) to wield them.

Property Hard Link Symbolic Link
Points to Inode (data) Path (name)
Works across filesystems No Yes
Target deleted Link still works Broken link (dangling)
ls -F marker none @

🗺️ Walkthrough

Step 1 — Survey the scrap heap

ls -F
# broken_sword  empty_bottle  portal_mirror@  scrap_pile/  crystal_hint

ls -l portal_mirror
# lrwxrwxrwx  1 user group  10 Jan 01  portal_mirror -> /vault/lab

portal_mirror is already a symlink — the bashcrawl game pre-creates it for you, so there's no need to build it yourself. It points to the vault's lab, so you can cd portal_mirror and you will land directly in the lab.

Step 2 — Navigate via the existing portal

cd portal_mirror
pwd
# .../vault/lab   ← teleported!
cd -             # Return to previous directory (the scrap heap)
pwd
# .../scrap

cd - takes you back to wherever you were last. Very useful.

Step 3 — Read the hint

cat crystal_hint
# "Create a shortcut named 'quick_entrance' pointing to ../../ENTRANCE"

Step 4 — Create your own portal

ln -s ../../ENTRANCE quick_entrance
ls -l quick_entrance
# lrwxrwxrwx  1 user group  14 Jan 01  quick_entrance -> ../../ENTRANCE
# (a symlink's size is the length of its target path — "../../ENTRANCE" is 14 characters)

ls -F quick_entrance/
# scroll  cellar/          ← entrance contents, via symlink

Step 5 — Inspect and resolve

readlink quick_entrance
# ../../ENTRANCE

readlink -f quick_entrance
# /home/user/bashcrawl/ENTRANCE  ← absolute, resolved path

Step 6 — Collect the crystal

Building your quick_entrance portal and stepping through it is what earns the portal crystal — the act of creating and using the symlink is the puzzle. Then check your haul with inventory, a bashcrawl game command (not a standard Unix tool) that lists the treasures you've gathered:

cd quick_entrance    # step through the portal you built
pwd                  # now inside ENTRANCE, reached via your symlink
cd -                 # return to the scrap heap
inventory
# portal crystal ✓

💡 Common Pitfalls

Problem Cause Fix
Symlink shows broken (red in terminal) Target path does not exist Check relative path with readlink
ln -s with no arguments Wrong order Syntax: ln -s TARGET LINK_NAME
cd symlink goes somewhere unexpected Relative path off Use absolute path or readlink -f
Cannot delete directory via symlink Symlink vs directory rm symlink removes the link; rm -r symlink/ (trailing slash) follows the link and deletes the target's contents

Danger: rm -r symlink_to_dir (no trailing slash) removes only the symlink itself, leaving the target untouched. But add a trailing slash — rm -r symlink_to_dir/ — and rm follows the link into the target directory and wipes out its contents. The slash is the difference between deleting a shortcut and deleting what it points at. Prefer unlink symlink_name to safely remove only the link.

✅ Validation

  • You know the difference between ls -F @ and a real directory
  • You created quick_entrance and successfully cd'd through it
  • You can resolve absolute target paths with readlink -f
  • The portal crystal is in your inventory

➡️ Next Steps

{% include bashcrawl-play-local.html %}

📚 External Resources

Continue your terminal adventure with these resources:

Portals created. The dungeon's geography bends to your will. 🗑️

🕸️ Knowledge Graph

Structured wiki-links connect this quest to the IT-Journey knowledge graph. Open the Obsidian Graph View to explore connections.

Level hub: [[Level 0000 - Foundation & Init World]] Overworld: [[🏰 Overworld - Master Quest Map]] Prerequisites: [[Bashcrawl Cellar: File Types, Aliases, and Emerald Amulet]] Unlocks: [[Bashcrawl Rift: Pipes, Redirection, and the Final Boss]] Sequel quests: [[Bashcrawl Rift: Pipes, Redirection, and the Final Boss]] Obsidian docs: [[Obsidian Knowledge Graph and Wiki Links]]