misc-utils/hardlink.1

   1 .\" Copyright (C) 2008 - 2012 Julian Andres Klode. See hardlink.c for license.
   2 .\" SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
   3 .TH hardlink 1 "2012-09-17" "0.3"
   4 .SH NAME
   5 hardlink \- Link multiple copies of a file
   6 .SH SYNOPSIS
   7 .B hardlink
   8 .RI [ option ]...
   9 .RI [ directory | file ]...
  10 .SH DESCRIPTION
  11 .B hardlink
  12 is a tool which replaces copies of a file with hardlinks, therefore saving
  13 space.
  14 .SH OPTIONS
  15 .TP
  16 .B \-h or \-\-help
  17 print quick usage details to the screen.
  18 .TP
  19 .B \-v or \-\-verbose
  20 More verbose output. If specified once, every hardlinked file is displayed,
  21 if specified twice, it also shows every comparison.
  22 .TP
  23 .B \-n or \-\-dry\-run
  24 Do not act, just print what would happen
  25 .TP
  26 .B \-f or \-\-respect\-name
  27 Only try to link files with the same (basename).
  28 .TP
  29 .B \-p or \-\-ignore\-mode
  30 Link/compare files even if their mode is different. This may be a bit unpredictable.
  31 .TP
  32 .B \-o or \-\-ignore\-owner
  33 Link/compare files even if their owner (user and group) is different. It is not
  34 predictable
  35 .TP
  36 .B \-t or \-\-ignore\-time
  37 Link/compare files even if their time of modification is different. You almost
  38 always want this.
  39 .TP
  40 .B \-X or \-\-respect\-xattrs
  41 Only try to link files with the same extended attributes.
  42 .TP
  43 .B \-m or \-\-maximize
  44 Among equal files, keep the file with the highest link count.
  45 .TP
  46 .B \-M or \-\-minimize
  47 Among equal files, keep the file with the lowest link count.
  48 .TP
  49 .B \-O or \-\-keep\-oldest
  50 Among equal files, keep the oldest file (least recent modification time). By
  51 default, the newest file is kept. If \-\-maximize or \-\-minimize is specified,
  52 the link count has a higher precedence than the time of modification.
  53 .TP
  54 .B \-x or \-\-exclude
  55 A regular expression which excludes files from being compared and linked.
  56 .TP
  57 .B \-i or \-\-include
  58 A regular expression to include files. If the option \-\-exclude has been given,
  59 this option re-includes files which would otherwise be excluded. If the option
  60 is used without \-\-exclude, only files matched by the pattern are included.
  61 .TP
  62 .B \-s or \-\-minimum\-size
  63 The minimum size to consider. By default this is 1, so empty files will not
  64 be linked. An optional suffix of K,M,G,T may be provided, indicating that the
  65 file size is KiB,MiB,GiB,TiB.
  66
  67 .SH ARGUMENTS
  68 .B hardlink
  69 takes one or more directories which will be searched for files to be linked.
  70
  71 .SH BUGS
  72 .B hardlink
  73 assumes that the trees it operates on do not change during
  74 operation. If a tree does change, the result is undefined and potentially
  75 dangerous. For example, if a regular file is replaced by a device, hardlink
  76 may start reading from the device. If a component of a path is replaced by
  77 a symbolic link or file permissions change, security may be compromised. Do
  78 not run hardlink on a changing tree or on a tree controlled by another user.
  79
  80 .B hardlink
  81 , as of version 0.3 RC1, improperly calculates the amount of space saved if the
  82 option \-\-respect\-name is specified. In previous versions, the amount was
  83 wrong in almost all other cases as well.
  84
  85 .SH AUTHOR
  86 The program hardlink and this manpage have been written by Julian Andres Klode,
  87 and are licensed under the MIT license. See the code of hardlink for further
  88 information.