# Ln: failed to create symbolic link

**URL:** https://community.seqera.io/t/ln-failed-to-create-symbolic-link/554
**Category:** Ask for help
**Created:** [March 8, 2024, 12:43pm UTC](https://community.seqera.io/t/ln-failed-to-create-symbolic-link/554 "2024-03-08T12:43:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![sebgoti](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.seqera.io/sebgoti/32/492_2.png) [@sebgoti](https://community.seqera.io/u/sebgoti)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2024, 12:43pm UTC](https://community.seqera.io/t/ln-failed-to-create-symbolic-link/554/1 "2024-03-08T12:43:07Z")

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I have a process X that is failing when running with a bigger dataset. One of the inputs is a list of files like this:

`input: path('*')`  
and the process writes a bunch of files as an output. The same process is working for similar data and at first I though it could be a memory issue because of the following error:

 ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/uploads/seqera/original/1X/4e40a2121759a24ccdc5f35cbd024b7254c7c391.jpeg)

But when changing to the work dir and running `bash .command.run` I get the following message:

`ln: failed to create symbolic link 'primary-f0-r6-c1-z0.tiff': File exists`

Any ideas/suggestions on how to troubleshoot? Already tried giving more resources but in principle that should not matter. Many thanks for any feedback/suggestions!

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### Author: ![mribeirodantas](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.seqera.io/mribeirodantas/32/235_2.png) [@mribeirodantas](https://community.seqera.io/u/mribeirodantas)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2024, 12:51pm UTC](https://community.seqera.io/t/ln-failed-to-create-symbolic-link/554/2 "2024-03-08T12:51:49Z")

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The exit status 137 occurs when a container’s memory exceeds the memory limit set. I would bet on that for a start. Try increasing the memory limits of your container engine and try again.

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### Author: ![sebgoti](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.seqera.io/sebgoti/32/492_2.png) [@sebgoti](https://community.seqera.io/u/sebgoti)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2024, 2:12pm UTC](https://community.seqera.io/t/ln-failed-to-create-symbolic-link/554/3 "2024-03-08T14:12:56Z")

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It worked, thanks! But I am still struggling to find out way since it is only a simple python function that writes a bunch of files. In any case thank you very much 🙂

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### Author: ![system](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.seqera.io/system/32/2402_2.png) [@system](https://community.seqera.io/u/system)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2024, 2:13pm UTC](https://community.seqera.io/t/ln-failed-to-create-symbolic-link/554/4 "2024-03-15T14:13:11Z")

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