NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     link - make a hard file link

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     #include <unistd.h>

     int
     link(const char *name1, const char *name2);

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     The link() function atomically creates the specified  directory entry
     (hard  link) name2 with the attributes of the underlying object pointed at
     by name1.  If the link is successful: the link count of  the
underlying
     object  is  incremented;  name1 and name2 share equal access
and rights to
     the underlying object.

     If name1 is removed, the file name2 is not deleted  and  the
link count of
     the underlying object is decremented.

     name1 must exist for the hard link to succeed and both name1
and name2
     must be in the same file system.   As  mandated  by  POSIX.1
name1 may not be
     a directory.

RETURN VALUES    [Toc]    [Back]

     Upon  successful completion, a value of 0 is returned.  Otherwise, a value
     of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS    [Toc]    [Back]

     link() will fail and no link will be created if:

     [ENOTDIR]     A component of either path prefix is not a directory.

     [ENAMETOOLONG]
                   A  component of a pathname exceeded {NAME_MAX}
characters,
                   or an entire  path  name  exceeded  {PATH_MAX}
characters.

     [ENOENT]      A component of either path prefix does not exist.

     [EOPNOTSUPP]  The file system containing the file  named  by
name1 does not
                   support links.

     [EMLINK]       The  link  count  of  the file named by name1
would exceed
                   LINK_MAX.

     [EACCES]      A  component  of  either  path  prefix  denies
search permission.

     [EACCES]       The  requested link requires writing in a directory with a
                   mode that denies write permission.

     [ELOOP]       Too many symbolic links  were  encountered  in
translating one
                   of the pathnames.

     [ENOENT]      The file named by name1 does not exist.

     [EEXIST]      The link named by name2 does exist.

     [EPERM]       The file named by name1 is a directory and the
effective
                   user ID is not superuser, or the  file  system
containing the
                   file  does  not  permit the use of link() on a
directory.

     [EPERM]       The file named by name1 is  flagged  immutable
or append-only.


     [EXDEV]        The link named by name2 and the file named by
name1 are on
                   different file systems.

     [ENOSPC]      The directory in which the entry for  the  new
link is being
                   placed  cannot be extended because there is no
space left on
                   the file system containing the directory.

     [EDQUOT]      The directory in which the entry for  the  new
link is being
                   placed  cannot  be extended because the user's
quota of disk
                   blocks on the file system containing  the  directory has been
                   exhausted.

     [EIO]          An  I/O  error occurred while reading from or
writing to the
                   file system to make the directory entry.

     [EROFS]       The requested link requires writing in  a  directory on a
                   read-only file system.

     [EFAULT]       One of the pathnames specified is outside the
process's allocated
 address space.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     readlink(2), symlink(2), unlink(2)

STANDARDS    [Toc]    [Back]

     The link() function is  expected  to  conform  to  IEEE  Std
1003.1-1988
     (``POSIX'').

OpenBSD      3.6                         January     12,     1994