xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/sys/link.2 (revision b1c86f5f087524e68db12794ee9c3e3da1ab17a0)
1.\"	$NetBSD: link.2,v 1.24 2010/05/31 12:16:20 njoly Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991, 1993
4.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
5.\"
6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
8.\" are met:
9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
10.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
12.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
13.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
14.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
15.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
16.\"    without specific prior written permission.
17.\"
18.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
19.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
20.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
21.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
22.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
23.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
24.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
25.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
26.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
27.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
28.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
29.\"
30.\"     @(#)link.2	8.3 (Berkeley) 1/12/94
31.\"
32.Dd January 12, 1994
33.Dt LINK 2
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm link
37.Nd make a hard file link
38.Sh LIBRARY
39.Lb libc
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.In unistd.h
42.Ft int
43.Fn link "const char *name1" "const char *name2"
44.Sh DESCRIPTION
45The
46.Fn link
47function call
48atomically creates the specified directory entry (hard link)
49.Fa name2
50with the attributes of the underlying object pointed at by
51.Fa name1 .
52If the link is successful: the link count of the underlying object
53is incremented;
54.Fa name1
55and
56.Fa name2
57share equal access and rights
58to the
59underlying object.
60.Pp
61If
62.Fa name1
63is removed, the file
64.Fa name2
65is not deleted and the link count of the
66underlying object is
67decremented.
68.Pp
69.Fa name1
70must exist for the hard link to
71succeed and
72both
73.Fa name1
74and
75.Fa name2
76must be in the same file system.
77.Fa name1
78may not be a directory unless the caller is the super-user
79and the file system containing it supports linking to directories.
80.Sh RETURN VALUES
81Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned.
82Otherwise, a value of \-1 is returned and
83.Va errno
84is set to indicate the error.
85.Sh ERRORS
86.Fn link
87will fail and no link will be created if:
88.Bl -tag -width Er
89.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
90A component of either path prefix is not a directory.
91.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
92A component of a pathname exceeded
93.Brq Dv NAME_MAX
94characters, or an entire path name exceeded
95.Brq Dv PATH_MAX
96characters.
97.It Bq Er ENOENT
98A component of either path prefix does not exist.
99.It Bq Er EACCES
100A component of either path prefix denies search permission, or
101the requested link requires writing in a directory with a mode
102that denies write permission.
103.It Bq Er ELOOP
104Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating one of the pathnames.
105.It Bq Er ENOENT
106The file named by
107.Fa name1
108does not exist.
109.It Bq Er EOPNOTSUPP
110The file system containing the file named by
111.Fa name1
112does not support links.
113.It Bq Er EMLINK
114The link count of the file named by
115.Fa name1
116would exceed
117.Dv {LINK_MAX} .
118.It Bq Er EEXIST
119The link named by
120.Fa name2
121does exist.
122.It Bq Er EPERM
123The file named by
124.Fa name1
125is a directory and the effective
126user ID is not super-user,
127or the file system containing the file does not permit the use of
128.Fn link
129on a directory.
130.It Bq Er EXDEV
131The link named by
132.Fa name2
133and the file named by
134.Fa name1
135are on different file systems.
136.It Bq Er ENOSPC
137The directory in which the entry for the new link is being placed
138cannot be extended because there is no space left on the file
139system containing the directory.
140.It Bq Er EDQUOT
141The directory in which the entry for the new link
142is being placed cannot be extended because the
143user's quota of disk blocks on the file system
144containing the directory has been exhausted.
145.It Bq Er EIO
146An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to
147the file system to make the directory entry.
148.It Bq Er EROFS
149The requested link requires writing in a directory on a read-only file
150system.
151.It Bq Er EFAULT
152One of the pathnames specified
153is outside the process's allocated address space.
154.El
155.Sh SEE ALSO
156.Xr symlink 2 ,
157.Xr unlink 2
158.Sh STANDARDS
159The
160.Fn link
161function conforms to
162.St -p1003.1-90 .
163