Directory link works inside of path, permission denied in home folder or other locations

Question

On MacOS 10.12.1 I have an issue with symlink permissions

I have created a link that is in my $PATH

lrwxr-xr-x  1 <redacteduser>  staff      48 Dec 14 13:23 <redactedlink> -> /users/<redacted>/documents/<redacted>/<redacted>/folder

When I call the link from the terminal while inside of its containing directory, the link works and correctly moves my terminal to the folder.

When I call the link outside of the containing directory, say in ~/, i get:

zsh: permission denied: <redacted>

After sourcing my ~/.zshrc to make sure it is in my path, I still get the error. Other links in the containing folder link to programs/scripts I have placed in that folder. They work and respond to

which <redactedlink>

I have attempted to change the ownership of the linked folder as well as the ownership of the link itself. Neither of these steps have made the link accessible from other folders. If I make a link to a shell script that changes to the linked folder, it works.

I'm sure there is something simple I'm missing here about the way folder links work. Can you please help me figure out what is wrong?

Thank you

Answer 1

Turns out this is an X-Y problem on my end. I am trying to use a symlink in an improper manner. I can use an alias to make shortcuts to change directories.

https://superuser.com/questions/167221/can-i-add-a-shortcut-to-replace-a-path-in-linux