# Compatability mode and remote symlink dirs
**URL:** https://cylc.discourse.group/t/compatability-mode-and-remote-symlink-dirs/837
**Category:** Cylc 8 Migration
**Created:** [December 19, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/compatability-mode-and-remote-symlink-dirs/837 "2023-12-19T15:13:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@annette.osprey](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/annette.osprey)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/compatability-mode-and-remote-symlink-dirs/837/1 "2023-12-19T15:13:59Z")
Hi,
On our HPC (ARCHER2) the batch nodes can’t see the `/home` file system. Therefore we symlink the `cylc-run` directories to `$DATADIR` (the user’s space on `/work` that the batch nodes can see).
In Cylc 7 we did this through Rose, with:
```auto
[rose-suite-run]
root-dir=ln*=$DATADIR
```
And in Cylc 8 we use:
```auto
[install]
[[symlink dirs]]
[[[archer2]]]
run = $DATADIR
```
However if running with Cylc 8 in compatability mode, it does not create any symlinks. Not sure whether this is how it’s supposed to work, or something has gone wrong? Is there a different way to do this in compatability mode?
Thanks for your help,
Annette
---
### Author:  [@oliver.sanders](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/oliver.sanders)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2023, 3:29pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/compatability-mode-and-remote-symlink-dirs/837/2 "2023-12-19T15:29:21Z")
Hi,
Cylc 8 should create the same symlinks whether the workflow being run is in compatibility mode or not.
Note that remote file installation doesn’t happen until the first task is submitted to the remote platform.
It might be worth trying a new workflow run (i.e. create a new installation of the workflow with a different run number or workflow name) as Cylc won’t attempt to create the symlinks if the directories are already present, so a previous installation that wasn’t correctly cleaned up could cause links not to be created.
If that doesn’t help, try looking at the remote installation logs which are found in `$HOME/cylc-run//log/remote-install` on the filesystem where the workflow was started.
Cheers,
Oliver
---
### Author:  [@annette.osprey](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/annette.osprey)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2023, 4:17pm UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/compatability-mode-and-remote-symlink-dirs/837/3 "2023-12-19T16:17:48Z")
Hi Oliver,
Thanks for confirming how it’s supposed to work.
I am definitely clearing out the workflow cylc-run directory each time. However I did notice that it works OK for a simple test, so it must be something about this particular workflow.
I will take a look at the logs and see if I can figure out what is going on.
Thanks,
Annette
---
### Author:  [@annette.osprey](https://cylc.discourse.group/u/annette.osprey)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2023, 9:36am UTC](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/compatability-mode-and-remote-symlink-dirs/837/4 "2023-12-20T09:36:45Z")
Hi Oliver,
After bit of digging it seems to be this issue here - nothing to do with compatability mode as such:
> [@Cylc 8, 2 step fcm\_make and symlink dirs](https://cylc.discourse.group/t/cylc-8-2-step-fcm-make-and-symlink-dirs/515):
>
> Our usual setup uses a two step fcm\_make with the remote share and work directories both symlinked to scratch directories (set in the cylc global configuration). With cylc 7, the remote links were created at startup by rose suite-run and worked as expected. However with cylc 8, the remote directories are only created by the first remote task (fcm\_make2), which comes after fcm\_make has already created a remote share directory in $HOME as part of the mirror step. A simple work-around is a dummy…
Thanks,
Annette