ln(1)                          DG/UX R4.11MU05                         ln(1)


NAME
       ln - link files

SYNOPSIS
       ln [ -f ] [ -n ] [ -s ] file1 [ file2...  ] target

DESCRIPTION
       The ln command links filen to target by creating a directory entry
       that refers to target.  By using ln with one or more file names, the
       user may create one or more links to target.

       The ln command may be used to create both hard links and symbolic
       links; by default it creates hard links.  A hard link to a file is
       indistinguishable from the original directory entry.  Any changes to
       a file are effective independent of the name used to reference the
       file.  Hard links may not span file systems and may not refer to
       directories.  The ln command cannot be used to create a hard link to
       a file that is in a control point directory.

       Without the -s option, ln is used to create hard links.  filen is
       linked to target.  If target is a directory, another file named filen
       is created in target and linked to the original filen.  If target is
       a file, its contents are overwritten.

       If ln determines that the mode of target forbids writing and the
       process has MAC write access to target, it will print the mode (see
       chmod(2)), ask for a response, and read the standard input for one
       line.  If the line begins with y, the link occurs, if permissible;
       otherwise, the command exits.

       The following options are recognized:

       -f   ln will link files without questioning the user, even if the
            mode of target forbids writing.  Note that this is the default
            if the standard input is not a terminal,

       -n   If the linkname is an existing file, do not overwrite the
            contents of the file.  The -f option overrides this option.

       -s   ln will create a symbolic link.  A symbolic link contains the
            name of the file to which it is linked.  Symbolic links may span
            file systems and may refer to directories.

       If the -s option is used with two arguments, target may be an
       existing directory or a non-existent file.  If target already exists
       and is not a directory, an error is returned.  filen may be any path
       name and need not exist.  If it exists, it may be a file or directory
       and may reside on a different file system from target.  If target is
       an existing directory, a file is created in directory target whose
       name is filen or the last component of filen.  This file is a
       symbolic link that references filen.  If target does not exist, a
       file with name target is created and it is a symbolic link that
       references filen.

       If the -s option is used with more than two arguments, target must be
       an existing directory or an error will be returned.  For each filen,
       a file is created in target whose name is filen or its last
       component; each new filen is a symbolic link to the original filen.
       The files and target may reside on different file systems.

       On a system with DG/UX information security, the process must have
       MAC write access to both the target and filen when creating a hard
       link.  When creating a symbolic link, the process must have MAC write
       access to target if it exists, or to the directory containing target
       if target does not exist.

       The MAC attributes of a symbolic link are irrelevant, since all
       access checks are made using the security attributes of the directory
       that the symbolic link referrences.

SEE ALSO
       chmod(1), cp(1), mv(1), rm(1), link(2), readlink(2), stat(2),
       symlink(2).


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