[3.12] GH-105900: Fix pathlib.Path.symlink_to(target_is_directory=...) docs (GH-114035) (#114464)

miss-islington · barneygale · web-flow · commit ccd8d7711208 · 2024-01-23T05:36:16.000Z
Clarify that *target_is_directory* only matters if the target doesn't exist. (cherry picked from commit b822b85) Co-authored-by: Barney Gale <barney.gale@gmail.com>
diff --git a/Doc/library/pathlib.rst b/Doc/library/pathlib.rst
@@ -1387,9 +1387,13 @@ call fails (for example because the path doesn't exist).
 
 .. method:: Path.symlink_to(target, target_is_directory=False)
 
-   Make this path a symbolic link to *target*.  Under Windows,
-   *target_is_directory* must be true (default ``False``) if the link's target
-   is a directory.  Under POSIX, *target_is_directory*'s value is ignored.
+   Make this path a symbolic link pointing to *target*.
+
+   On Windows, a symlink represents either a file or a directory, and does not
+   morph to the target dynamically.  If the target is present, the type of the
+   symlink will be created to match. Otherwise, the symlink will be created
+   as a directory if *target_is_directory* is ``True`` or a file symlink (the
+   default) otherwise.  On non-Windows platforms, *target_is_directory* is ignored.
 
    ::
 
