DragonFly On-Line Manual Pages

hardlink(1)            DragonFly General Commands Manual           hardlink(1)

NAME
       hardlink - Link multiple copies of a file

SYNOPSIS
       hardlink [option]...  [directory|file]...

DESCRIPTION
       hardlink is a tool which replaces copies of a file with hardlinks,
       therefore saving space.

OPTIONS
       -h or --help
              print quick usage details to the screen.

       -v or --verbose
              More verbose output. If specified once, every hardlinked file is
              displayed, if specified twice, it also shows every comparison.

       -n or --dry-run
              Do not act, just print what would happen

       -f or --respect-name
              Only try to link files with the same (basename).

       -p or --ignore-mode
              Link/compare files even if their mode is different. This may be
              a bit unpredictable.

       -o or --ignore-owner
              Link/compare files even if their owner (user and group) is
              different. It is not predictable

       -t or --ignore-time
              Link/compare files even if their time of modification is
              different. You almost always want this.

       -X or --respect-xattrs
              Only try to link files with the same extended attributes.

       -m or --maximize
              Among equal files, keep the file with the highest link count.

       -M or --minimize
              Among equal files, keep the file with the lowest link count.

       -O or --keep-oldest
              Among equal files, keep the oldest file (least recent
              modification time). By default, the newest file is kept. If
              --maximize or --minimize is specified, the link count has a
              higher precedence than the time of modification.

       -x or --exclude
              A regular expression which excludes files from being compared
              and linked.

       -i or --include
              A regular expression to include files. If the option --exclude
              has been given, this option re-includes files which would
              otherwise be excluded. If the option is used without --exclude,
              only files matched by the pattern are included.

       -s or --nimum-size
              The minimum size to consider. By default this is 1, so empty
              files will not be linked. An optional suffix of K,M,G,T may be
              provided, indicating that the file size is KiB,MiB,GiB,TiB.

ARGUMENTS
       hardlink takes one or more directories which will be searched for files
       to be linked.

BUGS
       hardlink assumes that the trees it operates on do not change during
       operation. If a tree does change, the result is undefined and
       potentially dangerous. For example, if a regular file is replaced by a
       device, hardlink may start reading from the device. If a component of a
       path is replaced by a symbolic link or file permissions change,
       security may be compromised. Do not run hardlink on a changing tree or
       on a tree controlled by another user.

       hardlink , as of version 0.3 RC1, improperly calculates the amount of
       space saved if the option --respect-name is specified. In previous
       versions, the amount was wrong in almost all other cases as well.

AUTHOR
       The program hardlink and this manpage have been written by Julian
       Andres Klode, and are licensed under the MIT license. See the code of
       hardlink for further information.

0.3                               2012-09-17                       hardlink(1)