Frontend Cache-Clean [F] does not seem to clear static content

[kolaente]

When pressing F, the files in pub/static/frontend are still present.

[Vinai]

Thanks for opening the issue @kolaente - I must have broken it at one point in time!

[Vinai]

I am unable to reproduce the issue.
When I press F the files in pub/static/frontend are gone, only the directories remain.

---

My steps to reproduce on my current dev instance:

1. Reload the homepage after clearing static view files.
2. Then, list all files and symlinks (because I am running in deploy mode developer).

$ find pub/static/frontend/ -type f -or -type l
pub/static/frontend/Hyva/default/de_CH/Magewirephp_Magewire/js/livewire.js
pub/static/frontend/Hyva/default/de_CH/Magewirephp_Magewire/js/livewire.js.map
pub/static/frontend/Hyva/default/de_CH/css/styles.css
pub/static/frontend/Hyva/default/de_CH/Hyva_Theme/js/alpine.min.js
pub/static/frontend/Hyva/default/de_CH/Hyva_Theme/js/alpine.min.js.map
pub/static/frontend/Hyva/default/de_CH/Magezon_Core/css/owlcarousel/owl.carousel.min.css
pub/static/frontend/Hyva/default/de_CH/Magezon_Core/css/styles.css
pub/static/frontend/Hyva/default/de_CH/Magezon_Core/css/mgz_bootstrap.css
pub/static/frontend/Hyva/default/de_CH/Magezon_Core/css/fontawesome5.css
pub/static/frontend/Hyva/default/de_CH/Magento_Theme/favicon.ico
pub/static/frontend/Hyva/default/de_CH/images/hero-2x.jpg
pub/static/frontend/Hyva/default/de_CH/images/hyva-logo.svg
pub/static/frontend/Hyva/default/de_CH/images/logo.svg

3. Press F in the cache-watcher
4. Finally, list all files and symlinks, again

$ find pub/static/frontend/ -type f -or -type

Result: no files are left.

[Vinai]

Please let me know if I am missing a step when reproducing the issue.

[sprankhub]

I just (partially) bumped into this issue. In general, [F] clears static content files for me. However, it seems to not clear any broken symlinks. So if there is a broken symlink under pub/static, this broken symlink will not be removed, which may lead to issues.

Use case:

1. Override a file in your theme.
2. Open the page, so that the symlink for this file is created.
3. Remove the file from your theme, because you do not want to override it any more.
4. Press [F].

Expected: The broken symlink of the old overridden file is removed.
Actual: The broken symlink is not removed, so that Magento is missing a file in the frontend.

[Vinai]

That's interesting. I wonder why the broken symlinks are not removed.
If I recall correctly, this function should remove them, too...

[sprankhub]

I just bumped into this again. I have no idea about ClojureScript, but I figured the files are unlinked via the rm function. Could it be that the following exists? check returns false for broken symlinks, so that they are not unlinked?

magento-cache-clean/src/file/system.cljs

Line 75 in d95b541

(when (exists? file)

[peterjaap]

@sprankhub no, the function exists? will return true for both valid and broken symlinks because it checks if the symlink itself exists, not whether the target of the symlink is valid. So it must be something else.