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Rename() causes the link named from to be renamed as to. If to exists,
it is first removed. Both from and to must be of the same type (that is,
both directories or both non-directories), and must reside on the same
file system.
Rename() guarantees that an instance of to will always exist, even if the
system should crash in the middle of the operation.
If the final component of from is a symbolic link, the symbolic link is
renamed, not the file or directory to which it points.
The way rename works it has to be able to link. That is how mv works if the file or directory is moving with in the same file system. What mv does when it is going across logical devices is copy from destination to source and then unlink the original file.
Distribution: Solaris 11.4, Oracle Linux, Mint, Debian/WSL
Posts: 9,789
Rep:
As jtshaw said, mv is using the rename system call only when possible, and if not, is copying the file then remove the source file if the copy succeeds. These operations aren't "atomic" enough to be considered for implementing a system call.
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