Expanding on bug #33460 (see below), predictably enough, the same issue applies to eshell's "lastdir" file too. The attached patch provides the same fix, again using function `file-truename'. It supplants my previous patch, which should be discarded. So I guess bug #33640 should be closed now. In GNU Emacs 24.4.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.14.5) of 2017-09-12 on hullmann, modified by Debian Windowing system distributor `The X.Org Foundation', version 11.0.11604000 System Description: LMDE 2 Betsy ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Philip Hudson Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2018 at 23:09 Subject: 24.4; Eshell histfile symlinks not followed To: If the file named by the value of option `eshell-history-file-name' is a symbolic link, then it will be replaced and overwritten instead. It should be dereferenced (followed) first, and its target file should be replaced and overwritten. The attached patch uses function `file-truename' to fix this. The patch was made using source cloned from git savannah HEAD today, which I think is version 26.1.90, based on ChangeLog.3 in the cloned repo. -- Phil Hudson http://hudson-it.ddns.net Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) ID: 0x4E482F85