Messages in this thread | | | Date | Thu, 18 Jan 2001 10:54:31 -0500 | From | dmeyer@dmeyer ... | Subject | Re: Documenting stat(2) |
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In article <3A66D93C.8090500@AnteFacto.com> you write: > Nope stat should return the details of the symlink > whereas lstat should return the details of the symlink target.
Not according to my manpages. From stat(2):
stat stats the file pointed to by file_name and fills in buf.
lstat is identical to stat, only the link itself is stated, not the file that is obtained by tracing the links.
Actually, the Solaris manpage is clearer:
The lstat() function obtains file attributes similar to stat(), except when the named file is a symbolic link; in that case lstat() returns information about the link, while stat() returns information about the file the link refer- ences.
and a short test program:
#include <stdio.h> #include <sys/stat.h> #include <unistd.h>
main() { struct stat buf;
stat("stattest.c",&buf); printf("stat original file: %d\n",buf.st_size);
symlink("stattest.c","a_symlink");
stat("a_symlink",&buf); printf("stat symlink: %d\n",buf.st_size);
lstat("a_symlink",&buf); printf("lstat symlink: %d\n",buf.st_size); }
jhereg|dmeyer|~/dl> ./stattest stat original file: 358 stat symlink: 358 lstat symlink: 10
stat clearly is giving the size of the target, and lstat the size of the link.
-- David M. Meyer dmeyer@dmeyer.net - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
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