symlink(2) DG/UX 5.4.2 symlink(2)
NAME
symlink - create a symbolic link file
SYNOPSIS
#include <unistd.h>
int symlink (linkcontents, linkpath)
char * linkcontents;
char * linkpath;
where:
linkcontents Null terminated string to become the symbolic link's
contents
linkpath Address of a pathname
DESCRIPTION
Symlink creates a symbolic link file named by the pathname pointed to
by linkpath that contains the null-terminated string pointed to by
linkcontents.
Linkcontents need not be a valid pathname in order to create the
symbolic link. When the symbolic link is resolved as part of a
pathname, however, an error will occur if it does not obey all the
pathname resolution rules.
Linkcontents must be less than MAXPATHLEN bytes long. This
restriction is in addition to the size restrictions that apply to
every file -- the process file size limit, and the system file size
limit.
The symbolic link file is entered into the filesystem. The file's
attributes are initialized as follows:
⊕ The inode number (st_ino) refers to the per-file database
allocated.
⊕ The device number (st_dev) is the same as that of the
directory containing the symbolic link file. The represented
device (st_rdev) is undefined.
⊕ The number of links (st_nlink) is set to one.
⊕ The file mode (st_mode) is set as follows: The file type is
`symbolic-link-file'. The other mode fields are undefined.
⊕ The user id (st_uid) is set to the effective user id of the
calling process. (The user id is needed to support the
protection required by readlink.) The group id (st_gid) is
undefined.
⊕ The file size (st_size) is set to the number of characters in
linkcontents, exclusive of the terminating null character.
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symlink(2) DG/UX 5.4.2 symlink(2)
⊕ The time last accessed (st_atime), time last modified
(st_mtime), and time of last attribute change (st_ctime) are
set to the current time.
Linkpath is created in the containing directory and is made to
identify the newly created file. An allocation to the directory
causes its attributes to change as follows:
⊕ The file size (st_size) is updated if the number of block
necessary to hold the directory entries was increased by
adding the symbolic link entry.
⊕ The time last modified (st_mtime) and time of last attribute
change (st_ctime) are set to the current time.
If symlink fails, no changes are made.
ACCESS CONTROL
The calling process must have permission to resolve linkpath.
The calling process must have write permission to the directory
containing the symbolic link to be added.
RETURN VALUE
0 The symbolic link was successfully created.
-1 An error occurred. errno is set to indicate the error.
DIAGNOSTICS
Errno may be set to one of the following error codes:
EEXIST The symbolic link named by newpath exists.
EFAULT Linkcontents points outside the allocated address
space of the process.
EROFS The requested symbolic link requires writing in a
directory on a file system mounted read-only.
ENOENT The file the pathname resolved to does not exist.
ENOENT A non-terminal component of the pathname does not
exist.
ENOTDIR A non-terminal component of the pathname was not a
directory or symbolic link.
ENAMETOOLONG The pathname exceeds the length limit for pathnames.
ENAMETOOLONG A component of the pathname exceeds the length limit
for filenames.
ENOMEM There are not enough system resources to resolve the
pathname or to expand a symbolic link.
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symlink(2) DG/UX 5.4.2 symlink(2)
ELOOP The number of symbolic links encountered during
pathname resolution exceeded MAXSYMLINKS. A symbolic
link cycle is suspected.
EFAULT The pathname does not completely reside in the
process's address space or the pathname does not
terminate in the process's address space.
SEE ALSO
ln(1), link(2), readlink(2), unlink(2), stat(5).
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