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():
           _BSD_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 || _XOPEN_SOURCE && _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED ||
           _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L

       symlinkat():
           Since glibc 2.10:
               _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 700 || _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(2).  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),  lchown(2),  link(2),  lstat(2),  open(2),  readlink(2), rename(2), unlink(2), path_resolution(7),
       symlink(7)

COLOPHON

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