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.TH LINKAT 2 2006-04-10 "Linux 2.6.16" "Linux Programmer's Manual"
.SH NAME
linkat \- create a file link relative to directory file descriptors
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.B #define _ATFILE_SOURCE
.B #include <unistd.h>
.sp
.BI "int linkat(int " olddirfd ", const char *" oldpath ,
.BI "           int " newdirfd ", const char *" newpath ", int " flags );
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.BR linkat ()
system call operates in exactly the same way as
.BR link (2),
except for the differences described in this manual page.

If the pathname given in
.I oldpath
is relative, then it is interpreted relative to the directory
referred to by the file descriptor
.IR olddirfd
(rather than relative to the current working directory of
the calling process, as is done by
.BR link (2)
for a relative pathname).

If
.I oldpath
is relative and
.I olddirfd
is the special value
.BR AT_FDCWD ,
then
.I oldpath
is interpreted relative to the current working
directory of the calling process (like
.BR link (2)).

If
.IR oldpath
is absolute, then
.I olddirfd
is ignored.

The interpretation of
.I newpath
is as for
.IR oldpath ,
except that a relative pathname is interpreted relative
to the directory referred to by the file descriptor
.IR newdirfd .

By default,
.BR linkat (2),
does not dereference
.I oldpath
if it is a symbolic link (like
.BR link (2)).
Since Linux 2.6.18, the flag
.B AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW
can be specified
.I flags
to cause
.I oldpath
to be dereferenced if it is a symbolic link.
Before kernel 2.6.18, the
.I flags
argument was unused, and had to be specified as 0.
.SH "RETURN VALUE"
On success,
.BR linkat ()
returns 0.
On error, \-1 is returned and
.I errno
is set to indicate the error.
.SH ERRORS
The same errors that occur for
.BR link (2)
can also occur for
.BR linkat ().
The following additional errors can occur for
.BR linkat ():
.TP
.B EBADF
.I olddirfd
or
.I newdirfd
is not a valid file descriptor.
.TP
.B ENOTDIR
.I oldpath
is relative and
.I olddirfd
is a file descriptor referring to a file other than a directory;
or similar for
.I newpath
and
.IR newdirfd
.SH NOTES
See
.BR openat (2)
for an explanation of the need for
.BR linkat ().
.SH "CONFORMING TO"
This system call is non-standard but is proposed
for inclusion in a future revision of POSIX.1.
.SH VERSIONS
.BR linkat ()
was added to Linux in kernel 2.6.16.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR link (2),
.BR openat (2),
.BR path_resolution (2)