1.\"- 2.\" Copyright (c) 1992, 1993, 1994 3.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 4.\" 5.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 6.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 7.\" are met: 8.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 9.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 10.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 11.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 12.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 13.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 14.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 15.\" without specific prior written permission. 16.\" 17.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 18.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 19.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 20.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 21.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 22.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 23.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 24.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 25.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 26.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 27.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 28.\" 29.Dd August 11, 2024 30.Dt SYMLINK 7 31.Os 32.Sh NAME 33.Nm symlink 34.Nd symbolic link handling 35.Sh SYMBOLIC LINK HANDLING 36Symbolic links are files that act as pointers to other files. 37To understand their behavior, you must first understand how hard links 38work. 39A hard link to a file is indistinguishable from the original file because 40it is a reference to the object underlying the original file name. 41Changes to a file are independent of the name used to reference the 42file. 43Hard links may not refer to directories and may not reference files 44on different file systems. 45A symbolic link contains the name of the file to which it is linked, 46i.e., it is a pointer to another name, and not to an underlying object. 47For this reason, symbolic links may reference directories and may span 48file systems. 49.Pp 50Because a symbolic link and its referenced object coexist in the file system 51name space, confusion can arise in distinguishing between the link itself 52and the referenced object. 53Historically, commands and system calls have adopted their own link 54following conventions in a somewhat ad-hoc fashion. 55Rules for more a uniform approach, as they are implemented in this system, 56are outlined here. 57It is important that local applications conform to these rules, too, 58so that the user interface can be as consistent as possible. 59.Pp 60Symbolic links are handled either by operating on the link itself, 61or by operating on the object referenced by the link. 62In the latter case, 63an application or system call is said to 64.Dq follow 65the link. 66Symbolic links may reference other symbolic links, 67in which case the links are dereferenced until an object that is 68not a symbolic link is found, 69a symbolic link which references a file which does not exist is found, 70or a loop is detected. 71(Loop detection is done by placing an upper limit on the number of 72links that may be followed, and an error results if this limit is 73exceeded.) 74.Pp 75There are three separate areas that need to be discussed. 76They are as follows: 77.Pp 78.Bl -enum -compact -offset indent 79.It 80Symbolic links used as file name arguments for system calls. 81.It 82Symbolic links specified as command line arguments to utilities that 83are not traversing a file tree. 84.It 85Symbolic links encountered by utilities that are traversing a file tree 86(either specified on the command line or encountered as part of the 87file hierarchy walk). 88.El 89.Ss System calls. 90The first area is symbolic links used as file name arguments for 91system calls. 92.Pp 93Except as noted below, all system calls follow symbolic links. 94For example, if there were a symbolic link 95.Dq Li slink 96which pointed to a file named 97.Dq Li afile , 98the system call 99.Dq Li open("slink" ...\&) 100would return a file descriptor to the file 101.Dq afile . 102.Pp 103There are thirteen system calls that do not follow links, and which operate 104on the symbolic link itself. 105They are: 106.Xr lchflags 2 , 107.Xr lchmod 2 , 108.Xr lchown 2 , 109.Xr lpathconf 2 , 110.Xr lstat 2 , 111.Xr lutimes 2 , 112.Xr readlink 2 , 113.Xr readlinkat 2 , 114.Xr rename 2 , 115.Xr renameat 2 , 116.Xr rmdir 2 , 117.Xr unlink 2 , 118and 119.Xr unlinkat 2 . 120Because 121.Xr remove 3 122is an alias for 123.Xr unlink 2 , 124it also does not follow symbolic links. 125When 126.Xr rmdir 2 127or 128.Xr unlinkat 2 129with the 130.Dv AT_REMOVEDIR 131flag 132is applied to a symbolic link, it fails with the error 133.Er ENOTDIR . 134.Pp 135The 136.Xr linkat 2 137system call does not follow symbolic links 138unless given the 139.Dv AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW 140flag. 141.Pp 142The following system calls follow symbolic links 143unless given the 144.Dv AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW 145flag: 146.Xr chflagsat 2 , 147.Xr faccessat 2 , 148.Xr fchmodat 2 , 149.Xr fchownat 2 , 150.Xr fstatat 2 151and 152.Xr utimensat 2 . 153.Pp 154The owner and group of an existing symbolic link can be changed by 155means of the 156.Xr lchown 2 157system call. 158The flags, access permissions, owner/group and modification time of 159an existing symbolic link can be changed by means of the 160.Xr lchflags 2 , 161.Xr lchmod 2 , 162.Xr lchown 2 , 163and 164.Xr lutimes 2 165system calls, respectively. 166Of these, only the flags and ownership are used by the system; 167the access permissions are ignored. 168.Pp 169The 170.Bx 4.4 171system differs from historical 172.Bx 4 173systems in that the system call 174.Xr chown 2 175has been changed to follow symbolic links. 176The 177.Xr lchown 2 178system call was added later when the limitations of the new 179.Xr chown 2 180became apparent. 181.Ss Commands not traversing a file tree. 182The second area is symbolic links, specified as command line file 183name arguments, to commands which are not traversing a file tree. 184.Pp 185Except as noted below, commands follow symbolic links named as command 186line arguments. 187For example, if there were a symbolic link 188.Dq Li slink 189which pointed to a file named 190.Dq Li afile , 191the command 192.Dq Li cat slink 193would display the contents of the file 194.Dq Li afile . 195.Pp 196It is important to realize that this rule includes commands which may 197optionally traverse file trees, e.g.\& the command 198.Dq Li "chown file" 199is included in this rule, while the command 200.Dq Li "chown -R file" 201is not. 202(The latter is described in the third area, below.) 203.Pp 204If it is explicitly intended that the command operate on the symbolic 205link instead of following the symbolic link, e.g., it is desired that 206.Dq Li "chown slink" 207change the ownership of the file that 208.Dq Li slink 209is, whether it is a symbolic link or not, the 210.Fl h 211option should be used. 212In the above example, 213.Dq Li "chown root slink" 214would change the ownership of the file referenced by 215.Dq Li slink , 216while 217.Dq Li "chown -h root slink" 218would change the ownership of 219.Dq Li slink 220itself. 221.Pp 222There are five exceptions to this rule. 223The 224.Xr mv 1 225and 226.Xr rm 1 227commands do not follow symbolic links named as arguments, 228but respectively attempt to rename and delete them. 229(Note, if the symbolic link references a file via a relative path, 230moving it to another directory may very well cause it to stop working, 231since the path may no longer be correct.) 232.Pp 233The 234.Xr ls 1 235command is also an exception to this rule. 236For compatibility with historic systems (when 237.Nm ls 238is not doing a tree walk, i.e., the 239.Fl R 240option is not specified), 241the 242.Nm ls 243command follows symbolic links named as arguments if the 244.Fl H 245or 246.Fl L 247option is specified, 248or if the 249.Fl F , 250.Fl d 251or 252.Fl l 253options are not specified. 254(The 255.Nm ls 256command is the only command where the 257.Fl H 258and 259.Fl L 260options affect its behavior even though it is not doing a walk of 261a file tree.) 262.Pp 263The 264.Xr file 1 265and 266.Xr stat 1 267commands are also exceptions to this rule. 268These 269commands do not follow symbolic links named as argument by default, 270but do follow symbolic links named as argument if the 271.Fl L 272option is specified. 273.Pp 274The 275.Bx 4.4 276system differs from historical 277.Bx 4 278systems in that the 279.Nm chown 280and 281.Nm chgrp 282commands follow symbolic links specified on the command line. 283.Ss Commands traversing a file tree. 284The following commands either optionally or always traverse file trees: 285.Xr chflags 1 , 286.Xr chgrp 1 , 287.Xr chmod 1 , 288.Xr cp 1 , 289.Xr du 1 , 290.Xr find 1 , 291.Xr ls 1 , 292.Xr pax 1 , 293.Xr rm 1 , 294.Xr tar 1 295and 296.Xr chown 8 . 297.Pp 298It is important to realize that the following rules apply equally to 299symbolic links encountered during the file tree traversal and symbolic 300links listed as command line arguments. 301.Pp 302The first rule applies to symbolic links that reference files that are 303not of type directory. 304Operations that apply to symbolic links are performed on the links 305themselves, but otherwise the links are ignored. 306.Pp 307The command 308.Dq Li "rm -r slink directory" 309will remove 310.Dq Li slink , 311as well as any symbolic links encountered in the tree traversal of 312.Dq Li directory , 313because symbolic links may be removed. 314In no case will 315.Nm rm 316affect the file which 317.Dq Li slink 318references in any way. 319.Pp 320The second rule applies to symbolic links that reference files of type 321directory. 322Symbolic links which reference files of type directory are never 323.Dq followed 324by default. 325This is often referred to as a 326.Dq physical 327walk, as opposed to a 328.Dq logical 329walk (where symbolic links referencing directories are followed). 330.Pp 331As consistently as possible, you can make commands doing a file tree 332walk follow any symbolic links named on the command line, regardless 333of the type of file they reference, by specifying the 334.Fl H 335(for 336.Dq half\-logical ) 337flag. 338This flag is intended to make the command line name space look 339like the logical name space. 340(Note, for commands that do not always do file tree traversals, the 341.Fl H 342flag will be ignored if the 343.Fl R 344flag is not also specified.) 345.Pp 346For example, the command 347.Dq Li "chown -HR user slink" 348will traverse the file hierarchy rooted in the file pointed to by 349.Dq Li slink . 350Note, the 351.Fl H 352is not the same as the previously discussed 353.Fl h 354flag. 355The 356.Fl H 357flag causes symbolic links specified on the command line to be 358dereferenced both for the purposes of the action to be performed 359and the tree walk, and it is as if the user had specified the 360name of the file to which the symbolic link pointed. 361.Pp 362As consistently as possible, you can make commands doing a file tree 363walk follow any symbolic links named on the command line, as well as 364any symbolic links encountered during the traversal, regardless of 365the type of file they reference, by specifying the 366.Fl L 367(for 368.Dq logical ) 369flag. 370This flag is intended to make the entire name space look like 371the logical name space. 372(Note, for commands that do not always do file tree traversals, the 373.Fl L 374flag will be ignored if the 375.Fl R 376flag is not also specified.) 377.Pp 378For example, the command 379.Dq Li "chown -LR user slink" 380will change the owner of the file referenced by 381.Dq Li slink . 382If 383.Dq Li slink 384references a directory, 385.Nm chown 386will traverse the file hierarchy rooted in the directory that it 387references. 388In addition, if any symbolic links are encountered in any file tree that 389.Nm chown 390traverses, they will be treated in the same fashion as 391.Dq Li slink . 392.Pp 393As consistently as possible, you can specify the default behavior by 394specifying the 395.Fl P 396(for 397.Dq physical ) 398flag. 399This flag is intended to make the entire name space look like the 400physical name space. 401.Pp 402For commands that do not by default do file tree traversals, the 403.Fl H , 404.Fl L 405and 406.Fl P 407flags are ignored if the 408.Fl R 409flag is not also specified. 410In addition, you may specify the 411.Fl H , 412.Fl L 413and 414.Fl P 415options more than once; the last one specified determines the 416command's behavior. 417This is intended to permit you to alias commands to behave one way 418or the other, and then override that behavior on the command line. 419.Pp 420The 421.Xr ls 1 422and 423.Xr rm 1 424commands have exceptions to these rules. 425The 426.Nm rm 427command operates on the symbolic link, and not the file it references, 428and therefore never follows a symbolic link. 429The 430.Nm rm 431command does not support the 432.Fl H , 433.Fl L 434or 435.Fl P 436options. 437.Pp 438To maintain compatibility with historic systems, 439the 440.Nm ls 441command acts a little differently. 442If you do not specify the 443.Fl F , 444.Fl d 445or 446.Fl l 447options, 448.Nm ls 449will follow symbolic links specified on the command line. 450If the 451.Fl L 452flag is specified, 453.Nm ls 454follows all symbolic links, 455regardless of their type, 456whether specified on the command line or encountered in the tree walk. 457.Sh SEE ALSO 458.Xr chflags 1 , 459.Xr chgrp 1 , 460.Xr chmod 1 , 461.Xr cp 1 , 462.Xr du 1 , 463.Xr find 1 , 464.Xr ln 1 , 465.Xr ls 1 , 466.Xr mv 1 , 467.Xr pax 1 , 468.Xr rm 1 , 469.Xr tar 1 , 470.Xr lchflags 2 , 471.Xr lchmod 2 , 472.Xr lchown 2 , 473.Xr lstat 2 , 474.Xr lutimes 2 , 475.Xr readlink 2 , 476.Xr rename 2 , 477.Xr symlink 2 , 478.Xr unlink 2 , 479.Xr fts 3 , 480.Xr remove 3 , 481.Xr chown 8 482