Create a Hard Link on an SFTP Server

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Demonstrates the Chilkat SFtp.HardLink method, which creates a hard link to an existing remote file. The first argument is the existing file and the second is the new link path. It uses the OpenSSH hardlink@openssh.com extension and succeeds only when the server supports it.

Background: A hard link is a second name for the same file data, not a pointer to a path: both names are equal, the data persists until the last name is removed, and there is no "original" to break. Unlike a symbolic link it cannot span filesystems and cannot target a directory. Because it depends on a non-standard OpenSSH extension, expect it to fail against servers that do not implement it.

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bool success = false;

//  Demonstrates the SFtp.HardLink method, which creates a hard link to an existing remote file.
//  The 1st argument is the existing file and the 2nd is the new link path.

Chilkat.SFtp sftp = new Chilkat.SFtp();

//  Connect, authenticate, and initialize the SFTP subsystem.
int port = 22;
success = sftp.Connect("sftp.example.com",port);
if (success == false) {
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

//  Normally you would not hard-code the password in source.  You should instead obtain it
//  from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
string password = "mySshPassword";

success = sftp.AuthenticatePw("mySshLogin",password);
if (success == false) {
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

success = sftp.InitializeSftp();
if (success == false) {
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

//  Create a hard link.  This uses the OpenSSH hardlink@openssh.com extension and succeeds only
//  when the server supports it.
success = sftp.HardLink("subdir/data.bin","subdir/data_backup.bin");
if (success == false) {
    Debug.WriteLine(sftp.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

Debug.WriteLine("Hard link created.");

sftp.Disconnect();