Why do symlinks in a duplicated folder turn into files after a few seconds? I have a folder full of files. There are 98 images, and 98 symlinks to those images with alternate filenames.

When I hit Duplicate in the Finder on that folder, the copy succeeds normally. But in less than 30 seconds, something iterates over the symlinks and turns them into duplicate copies of the files.


Only the copied folder is affected; the original folder is left untouched.
The new duplicates are not hard links to the original files; the inode numbers are all different.
The same behavior happens in both Finder and Path Finder.
I can see the conversion happen in real time; it will go down the list changing them in small groups.


Can anyone duplicate this bug in Sierra or High Sierra?




MacBookAir6,2
macOS Sierra 10.12.6
I can't reproduce the observed Finder/Path Finder behavior in a vanilla Sierra install. I'd expect it to be some tweak, a 3rd-party app or custom file &amp; folder permissions.

To avoid the inconvenience use hard links in the source folder.