Subj : Re: hardlink not working with directories on same file system
To   : alt.comp.linux,alt.comp.os.linux,comp.os.linux
From : efflandt
Date : Wed Oct 27 2004 12:28 am

On Tue, 26 Oct 2004, Mark Hobley <markhobley@hotpop.deletethisbit.co.uk> wrote:
> I am trying to create a hard link to the directory /mnt/vol1a/www/donk/
> into /mnt/vol1a/home/donk:
> 
> su root
> cd /mnt/vol1a
> ln www/donk/ home/donk/www
> ln: `www/': hard link not allowed for directory
> ln -d www/donk/ home/donk/www
> ln: creating hard link `home/donk/www' to `www/donk/': 
> Operation not permitted
> cd /
> ln /mnt/vol1a/www/donk/ /mnt/vol1a/home/donk/www
> ln: `/mnt/vol1a/www/donk/': hard link not allowed for directory
> ln -d /mnt/vol1a/www/donk/ /mnt/vol1a/home/donk/www
> ln: creating hard link `/mnt/vol1a/home/donk/www' to `mnt/vol1a/www/donk/': 
> Operation not permitted
> 
> Documentation seems to suggest that I can hard link directories on the same 
> file system.
> 
> What is going on ?
> 
> cat /etc/mtab reveals:
> 
> /dev/hda6 /mnt/vol1a ext2 rw 0 0
> 
> A hard link is required because user donk is chrooted to /mnt/vol1a/donk/
> 
> Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

Just a guess, but have you tried "su -"?
"su root" retains the environment of the user you su'd from.
"su -" makes it a root login shell, with root's env.
Otherwise it may be a limitation of the OS or filesystem.

.