133 lines
4.2 KiB
Groff
133 lines
4.2 KiB
Groff
.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993
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.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
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.\"
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.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
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.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
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.\"
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.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
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.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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.\" are met:
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.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
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.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
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.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
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.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
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.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
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.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
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.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
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.\" This product includes software developed by the University of
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.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
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.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
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.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
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.\" without specific prior written permission.
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.\"
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.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
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.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
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.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
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.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
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.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
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.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
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.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
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.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
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.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
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.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
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.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
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.\"
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.\" @(#)ln.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 12/30/93
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.\" $Id$
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.\"
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.Dd December 30, 1993
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.Dt LN 1
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.Os BSD 4
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.Sh NAME
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.Nm ln
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.Nd make links
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.Sh SYNOPSIS
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.Nm ln
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.Op Fl fs
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.Ar source_file
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.Op target_file
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.Nm ln
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.Op Fl fs
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.Ar source_file ...
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.Op target_dir
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.Sh DESCRIPTION
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The
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.Nm ln
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utility creates a new directory entry (linked file) which has the
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same modes as the original file.
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It is useful for maintaining multiple copies of a file in many places
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at once without using up storage for the
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.Dq copies ;
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instead, a link
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.Dq points
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to the original copy.
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There are two types of links; hard links and symbolic links.
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How a link
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.Dq points
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to a file is one of the differences between a hard or symbolic link.
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.Pp
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The options are as follows:
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.Bl -tag -width flag
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.It Fl f
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Unlink any already existing file, permitting the link to occur.
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.It Fl s
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Create a symbolic link.
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.El
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.Pp
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By default
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.Nm ln
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makes
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.Em hard
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links.
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A hard link to a file is indistinguishable from the original directory entry;
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any changes to a file are effective independent of the name used to reference
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the file.
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Hard links may not normally refer to directories and may not span file systems.
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.Pp
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A symbolic link contains the name of the file to
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which it is linked. The referenced file is used when an
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.Xr open 2
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operation is performed on the link.
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A
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.Xr stat 2
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on a symbolic link will return the linked-to file; an
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.Xr lstat 2
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must be done to obtain information about the link.
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The
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.Xr readlink 2
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call may be used to read the contents of a symbolic link.
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Symbolic links may span file systems and may refer to directories.
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.Pp
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Given one or two arguments,
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.Nm ln
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creates a link to an existing file
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.Ar source_file .
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If
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.Ar target_file
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is given, the link has that name;
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.Ar target_file
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may also be a directory in which to place the link;
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otherwise it is placed in the current directory.
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If only the directory is specified, the link will be made
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to the last component of
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.Ar source_file .
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.Pp
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Given more than two arguments,
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.Nm ln
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makes links in
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.Ar target_dir
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to all the named source files.
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The links made will have the same name as the files being linked to.
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.Sh SEE ALSO
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.Xr link 2 ,
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.Xr lstat 2 ,
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.Xr readlink 2 ,
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.Xr stat 2 ,
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.Xr symlink 2 ,
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.Xr symlink 7
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.Sh HISTORY
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A
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.Nm ln
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command appeared in
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.At v6 .
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