Description of the bug:

On Windows, when creating symlinks to a directory using ctx.actions.declare_symlink and ctx.actions.symlink, symlinks are created that are unusable since they are not created as directory symlinks. From a brief look through the code in Bazel that creates symlinks, symlinks shouldn’t be allowed to be created to directories on windows, requiring junctions instead.

This is causing rules_js to be unusable on Windows with newer versions of Bazel. See aspect-build/rules_js#2261.

Which category does this issue belong to?

Core

What's the simplest, easiest way to reproduce this bug? Please provide a minimal example if possible.

I’ve created a reproducer here: bazel-symlink-bug-main.tar.gz

The test can be run using bazel test //:test_mode.

Which operating system are you running Bazel on?

Windows

What is the output of bazel info release?

release 8.3.1

If bazel info release returns development version or (@non-git), tell us how you built Bazel.

N/a

What's the output of git remote get-url origin; git rev-parse HEAD ?

N/a

If this is a regression, please try to identify the Bazel commit where the bug was introduced with bazelisk --bisect.

c3ad87e

Have you found anything relevant by searching the web?

No

Any other information, logs, or outputs that you want to share?

No