The patch titled Implement AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW flag for linkat has been added to the -mm tree. Its filename is implement-at_symlink_follow-flag-for-linkat.patch See http://www.zip.com.au/~akpm/linux/patches/stuff/added-to-mm.txt to find out what to do about this ------------------------------------------------------ Subject: Implement AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW flag for linkat From: Ulrich Drepper <drepper@xxxxxxxxxx> When the linkat() syscall was added the flag parameter was added in the last minute but it wasn't used so far. The following patch should change that. My tests show that this is all that's needed. If OLDNAME is a symlink setting the flag causes linkat to follow the symlink and create a hardlink with the target. This is actually the behavior POSIX demands for link() as well but Linux wisely does not do this. With this flag (which will most likely be in the next POSIX revision) the programmer can choose the behavior, defaulting to the safe variant. As a side effect it is now possible to implement a POSIX-compliant link(2) function for those who are interested. touch file ln -s file symlink linkat(fd, "symlink", fd, "newlink", 0) -> newlink is hardlink of symlink linkat(fd, "symlink", fd, "newlink", AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW) -> newlink is hardlink of file The value of AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW is determined by the definition we already use in glibc. Signed-off-by: Ulrich Drepper <drepper@xxxxxxxxxx> Acked-by: Al Viro <viro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxx> --- fs/namei.c | 6 ++++-- include/linux/fcntl.h | 1 + 2 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff -puN fs/namei.c~implement-at_symlink_follow-flag-for-linkat fs/namei.c --- a/fs/namei.c~implement-at_symlink_follow-flag-for-linkat +++ a/fs/namei.c @@ -2243,14 +2243,16 @@ asmlinkage long sys_linkat(int olddfd, c int error; char * to; - if (flags != 0) + if ((flags & ~AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW) != 0) return -EINVAL; to = getname(newname); if (IS_ERR(to)) return PTR_ERR(to); - error = __user_walk_fd(olddfd, oldname, 0, &old_nd); + error = __user_walk_fd(olddfd, oldname, + flags & AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW ? LOOKUP_FOLLOW : 0, + &old_nd); if (error) goto exit; error = do_path_lookup(newdfd, to, LOOKUP_PARENT, &nd); diff -puN include/linux/fcntl.h~implement-at_symlink_follow-flag-for-linkat include/linux/fcntl.h --- a/include/linux/fcntl.h~implement-at_symlink_follow-flag-for-linkat +++ a/include/linux/fcntl.h @@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ #define AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW 0x100 /* Do not follow symbolic links. */ #define AT_REMOVEDIR 0x200 /* Remove directory instead of unlinking file. */ +#define AT_SYMLINK_FOLLOW 0x400 /* Follow symbolic links. */ #ifdef __KERNEL__ _ Patches currently in -mm which might be from drepper@xxxxxxxxxx are implement-at_symlink_follow-flag-for-linkat.patch pi-futex-futex-code-cleanups.patch - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe mm-commits" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html