Too Many Links

There are too many hard links to a file or directory on a filesystem. The exact number allowed is file-system dependent. Eg /usr/src/linux-2.4.19/include/linux/sysv_fs.h contains

enum {

XENIX_LINK_MAX = 126, /* ?? / SYSV_LINK_MAX = 126, / 127? 251? / V7_LINK_MAX = 126, / ?? */ COH_LINK_MAX = 10000,

};

while /usr/src/linux-2.4.19/include/linux/ext3_fs.h has

1. define EXT3_LINK_MAX 32000

and /usr/src/linux-2.4.19/include/linux/reiserfs_fs.h has

1. define REISERFS_LINK_MAX (MAX_US_INT - 1000)

(for maximum unsigned integer on the system).

This could be caused by a directory having too many files in it (each takes 1 link entry in the directory's i_node) or possibly filesystem corruption.