Reproduced in my environment: ubuntu12.04.5 (x64) + java7u101 + jenkins 2.7.1 + copyartifact 1.38.

1. setup a new ubuntu server 12.04.5 LTS amd64.
2. install jenkins as described in Installing+Jenkins+on+Ubuntu
3. install required packages to build the software

   sudo apt-get install scons
   sudo apt-get install build-essential
   sudo apt-get install chrpath
   sudo apt-get install libncurses-dev
   

4. Install copyartifact
5. Create a upstream project:
   • Execute shell

     rm -rf *
     wget -q http://download-mirror.savannah.gnu.org/releases/gpsd/gpsd-3.10.tar.gz
     tar -xzf gpsd-3.10.tar.gz
     cd gpsd-3.10
     echo "env.Alias('myinstall', binaryinstall + headerinstall)" >> SConstruct
     scons prefix=$WORKSPACE/stage myinstall 
     

   • Archive the artifacts
     • Files to archive: stage/**/*
6. Run a build. Following files are created:

   ls -laR /var/lib/jenkins/jobs/upstream/builds/1/archive
   ...
   /var/lib/jenkins/jobs/upstream/builds/1/archive/stage/lib:
   total 484
   lrwxrwxrwx 1 jenkins jenkins     17 Jul  9 23:13 libgpsd.so -> libgpsd.so.22.0.0
   lrwxrwxrwx 1 jenkins jenkins     17 Jul  9 23:13 libgpsd.so.22 -> libgpsd.so.22.0.0
   lrwxrwxrwx 1 jenkins jenkins     17 Jul  9 23:13 libgpsd.so.22.0 -> libgpsd.so.22.0.0
   -rw-r--r-- 1 jenkins jenkins 372096 Jul  9 23:13 libgpsd.so.22.0.0
   lrwxrwxrwx 1 jenkins jenkins     16 Jul  9 23:13 libgps.so -> libgps.so.21.0.0
   lrwxrwxrwx 1 jenkins jenkins     16 Jul  9 23:13 libgps.so.21 -> libgps.so.21.0.0
   lrwxrwxrwx 1 jenkins jenkins     16 Jul  9 23:13 libgps.so.21.0 -> libgps.so.21.0.0
   -rw-r--r-- 1 jenkins jenkins 122312 Jul  9 23:13 libgps.so.21.0.0
   ...
   

7. Create a downstream project:
   • Execute shell

     rm -rf *
     

   • Copy artifacts from another project
     • Project name: upstream
     • Which build: Last successful build
     • Artifacts to copy: **/*
8. Run a build. Following files are created:

   ls -laR /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/downstream
   ...
   ./stage/lib:
   total 484
   lrwxrwxrwx 1 jenkins jenkins     17 Jul  9 23:15 libgpsd.so -> libgpsd.so.22.0.0
   lrwxrwxrwx 1 jenkins jenkins     17 Jul  9 23:15 libgpsd.so.22 -> libgpsd.so.22.0.0
   lrwxrwxrwx 1 jenkins jenkins     17 Jul  9 23:15 libgpsd.so.22.0 -> libgpsd.so.22.0.0
   -rw-r--r-- 1 jenkins jenkins 372096 Jul  9 23:13 libgpsd.so.22.0.0
   -rw-r--r-- 1 jenkins jenkins 122312 Jul  9 23:13 libgps.so.21.0.0
   ...
   

What happens internally (created a special package to output verbose logs):

Copying /var/lib/jenkins/jobs/upstream/builds/1/archive/stage/lib/libgps.so -> /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/downstream/stage/lib/libgps.so
ln -s libgps.so.21.0.0 /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/downstream/stage/lib/libgps.so failed: 2 No such file or directory
Copying /var/lib/jenkins/jobs/upstream/builds/1/archive/stage/lib/libgps.so.21 -> /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/downstream/stage/lib/libgps.so.21
ln -s libgps.so.21.0.0 /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/downstream/stage/lib/libgps.so.21 failed: 2 No such file or directory
Copying /var/lib/jenkins/jobs/upstream/builds/1/archive/stage/lib/libgps.so.21.0 -> /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/downstream/stage/lib/libgps.so.21.0
ln -s libgps.so.21.0.0 /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/downstream/stage/lib/libgps.so.21.0 failed: 2 No such file or directory
Copying /var/lib/jenkins/jobs/upstream/builds/1/archive/stage/lib/libgps.so.21.0.0 -> /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/downstream/stage/lib/libgps.so.21.0.0
Copying /var/lib/jenkins/jobs/upstream/builds/1/archive/stage/lib/libgpsd.so -> /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/downstream/stage/lib/libgpsd.so
Copying /var/lib/jenkins/jobs/upstream/builds/1/archive/stage/lib/libgpsd.so.22 -> /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/downstream/stage/lib/libgpsd.so.22
Copying /var/lib/jenkins/jobs/upstream/builds/1/archive/stage/lib/libgpsd.so.22.0 -> /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/downstream/stage/lib/libgpsd.so.22.0
Copying /var/lib/jenkins/jobs/upstream/builds/1/archive/stage/lib/libgpsd.so.22.0.0 -> /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/downstream/stage/lib/libgpsd.so.22.0.0

It failed to create some symlinks as the directory (/var/lib/jenkins/workspace/downstream/stage/lib) was not available.
Once a non-symlink file in the directory is copied, the directory is created and starts to succeed to create symlinks.

https://github.com/jenkinsci/copyartifact-plugin/pull/86

I am also seeing this issue on my two jenkins sites. One jenkins setup is Jenkins 1.651.3 + Copy Artifact Plugin 1.38, and the other jenkins setup is Jenkins 2.7.1 + Copy Aritifact Plugin 1.38. The OS of both setups is Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

Below are repro steps:
1. One project P1 archives one file plus one symlink as its build artifacts like:
directory1/file1, directory2/symlink2 where symlink2 is a link to ../directory1/file1.

2. Another project P2 copies P1's artifacts to its workspace at the beginning of its build.

Expected: both file1 and symlink2 are copied to P2's workspace.

Actual: only file1 is copied to P2's workspace.

Please let me know if you need more information.

Fixed with copyartifact-1.38.1.
It will be available in the update center in a day.

frobert renwei
Please try that.

Sure. Thank you for fixing this. Will give it a try.

Updated the Copy Artifacts plugin to 1.38.1 and verified that this bug was gone.