SYMLINK(2)		   Linux Programmers Manual		   SYMLINK(2)



NAME
       symlink - make a new name for a file

SYNOPSIS
       #include 

       int symlink(const char *oldpath, const char *newpath);

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

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

DESCRIPTION
       symlink() creates a symbolic link  named  newpath  which  contains  the
       string oldpath.

       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	renam
       ing  of	the  link is requested and the link is in a directory with the
       sticky bit (S_ISVTX) set.

       If newpath exists it will not be overwritten.

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 newpath is denied, or
	      one of the directories in the path prefix  of  newpath  did  not
	      allow search permission.	(See also path_resolution(7).)

       EEXIST newpath already exists.

       EFAULT oldpath or newpath points outside your accessible address space.

       EIO    An I/O error occurred.

       ELOOP  Too many symbolic links were encountered in resolving newpath.

       ENAMETOOLONG
	      oldpath or newpath was too long.

       ENOENT A directory component in newpath does not exist or is a dangling
	      symbolic link, or oldpath is the 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 newpath is not,  in  fact,  a
	      directory.

       EPERM  The file system containing newpath does not support the creation
	      of symbolic links.

       EROFS  newpath is on a read-only file system.

CONFORMING TO
       SVr4, 4.3BSD, POSIX.1-2001.

NOTES
       No checking of oldpath is done.

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

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

COLOPHON
       This  page  is  part of release 3.05 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
       description of the project, and information about reporting  bugs,  can
       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



Linux				  2007-07-26			    SYMLINK(2)