This is version four of this patch. To apply: cd /usr/src/sys patch -p0 < nlink.patch Recompile your kernel. Index: ufs/ufs/ufs_vnops.c =================================================================== RCS file: /cvs/src/sys/ufs/ufs/ufs_vnops.c,v --- ufs_vnops.c 1998/08/06 19:35:15 1.20 +++ ufs_vnops.c 1999/02/26 05:55:10 1.26 @@ -926,6 +932,11 @@ /* fvp, tdvp, tvp now locked */ dp = VTOI(fdvp); ip = VTOI(fvp); + if ((nlink_t)ip->i_ffs_nlink >= LINK_MAX) { + VOP_UNLOCK(fvp, 0, p); + error = EMLINK; + goto abortit; + } if ((ip->i_ffs_flags & (IMMUTABLE | APPEND)) || (dp->i_ffs_flags & APPEND)) { VOP_UNLOCK(fvp, 0, p); Index: ufs/ext2fs/ext2fs_vnops.c =================================================================== RCS file: /cvs/src/sys/ufs/ext2fs/ext2fs_vnops.c,v --- ext2fs_vnops.c 1998/08/06 19:35:04 1.8 +++ ext2fs_vnops.c 1999/02/26 16:35:33 1.10 @@ -646,6 +650,11 @@ goto abortit; dp = VTOI(fdvp); ip = VTOI(fvp); + if ((nlink_t)ip->i_e2fs_nlink >= LINK_MAX) { + VOP_UNLOCK(fvp, 0, p); + error = EMLINK; + goto abortit; + } if ((ip->i_e2fs_flags & (EXT2_IMMUTABLE | EXT2_APPEND)) || (dp->i_e2fs_flags & EXT2_APPEND)) { VOP_UNLOCK(fvp, 0, p);