Use symlinks on windows if explicitly requested

1 files changed, 8 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/configure.py b/configure.py
index 5edd45f02..818a35ec8 100755
--- a/configure.py
+++ b/configure.py
@@ -1560,15 +1560,21 @@ Choose the link method based on system availablity and user request
 """
 def choose_link_method(options):
 
+    req = options.link_method
+
     def useable_methods():
+        # Symbolic link support on Windows was introduced in Windows 6.0 (Vista) and Python 3.2
+        # Furthermore the SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege is required in order to successfully create symlinks
+        # So only use try to use symlinks on Windows if explicitly requested
+        if req == 'symlink' and options.os == 'windows':
+            yield 'symlink'
+        # otherwise keep old conservative behavior
         if 'symlink' in os.__dict__ and options.os != 'windows':
             yield 'symlink'
         if 'link' in os.__dict__:
             yield 'hardlink'
         yield 'copy'
 
-    req = options.link_method
-
     for method in useable_methods():
         if req is None or req == method:
             logging.info('Using %s to link files into build dir ' \