NAME

       symlink, symlinkat - make a new name for a file

SYNOPSIS

       #include <unistd.h>

       int symlink(const char *target, const char *linkpath);

       #include <fcntl.h>           /* Definition of AT_* constants */
       #include <unistd.h>

       int symlinkat(const char *target, int newdirfd, const char *linkpath);

   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

       symlink():
           _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 || _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L
               || /* Glibc versions <= 2.19: */ _BSD_SOURCE

       symlinkat():
           Since glibc 2.10:
               _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L
           Before glibc 2.10:
               _ATFILE_SOURCE

DESCRIPTION

       symlink() creates a symbolic link named linkpath which contains the string target.

       Symbolic  links  are interpreted at run time as if the contents of the link had been substituted into the
       path being followed to find a file or directory.

       Symbolic links may contain ..  path components, which (if used at the start of the  link)  refer  to  the
       parent directories of that in which the link resides.

       A  symbolic  link  (also known as a soft link) may point to an existing file or to a nonexistent one; the
       latter case is known as a dangling link.

       The permissions of a symbolic link are irrelevant; the ownership is ignored when following the link,  but
       is  checked  when  removal  or  renaming of the link is requested and the link is in a directory with the
       sticky bit (S_ISVTX) set.

       If linkpath exists, it will not be overwritten.

   symlinkat()
       The symlinkat() system call operates in exactly the same way as symlink(),  except  for  the  differences
       described here.

       If  the pathname given in linkpath is relative, then it is interpreted relative to the directory referred
       to by the file descriptor newdirfd (rather than relative to the current working directory of the  calling
       process, as is done by symlink() for a relative pathname).

       If linkpath is relative and newdirfd is the special value AT_FDCWD, then linkpath is interpreted relative
       to the current working directory of the calling process (like symlink()).

       If linkpath is absolute, then newdirfd is ignored.

RETURN VALUE

       On success, zero is returned.  On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.

ERRORS

       EACCES Write access to the directory containing linkpath is denied, or one of the directories in the path
              prefix of linkpath did not allow search permission.  (See also path_resolution(7).)

       EDQUOT The user's quota of resources on the filesystem has been exhausted.  The resources could be inodes
              or disk blocks, depending on the filesystem implementation.

       EEXIST linkpath already exists.

       EFAULT target or linkpath points outside your accessible address space.

       EIO    An I/O error occurred.

       ELOOP  Too many symbolic links were encountered in resolving linkpath.

       ENAMETOOLONG
              target or linkpath was too long.

       ENOENT A directory component in linkpath does not exist or is a dangling  symbolic  link,  or  target  or
              linkpath is an empty string.

       ENOMEM Insufficient kernel memory was available.

       ENOSPC The device containing the file has no room for the new directory entry.

       ENOTDIR
              A component used as a directory in linkpath is not, in fact, a directory.

       EPERM  The filesystem containing linkpath does not support the creation of symbolic links.

       EROFS  linkpath is on a read-only filesystem.

       The following additional errors can occur for symlinkat():

       EBADF  newdirfd is not a valid file descriptor.

       ENOENT linkpath is a relative pathname and newdirfd refers to a directory that has been deleted.

       ENOTDIR
              linkpath is relative and newdirfd is a file descriptor referring to a file other than a directory.

VERSIONS

       symlinkat() was added to Linux in kernel 2.6.16; library support was added to glibc in version 2.4.

CONFORMING TO

       symlink(): SVr4, 4.3BSD, POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008.

       symlinkat(): POSIX.1-2008.

NOTES

       No checking of target is done.

       Deleting  the name referred to by a symbolic link will actually delete the file (unless it also has other
       hard links).  If this behavior is not desired, use link(2).

   Glibc notes
       On older kernels where symlinkat() is unavailable, the glibc wrapper function falls back to  the  use  of
       symlink().   When linkpath is a relative pathname, glibc constructs a pathname based on the symbolic link
       in /proc/self/fd that corresponds to the newdirfd argument.

SEE ALSO

       ln(1),  namei(1),   lchown(2),   link(2),   lstat(2),   open(2),   readlink(2),   rename(2),   unlink(2),
       path_resolution(7), symlink(7)

COLOPHON

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