# K1656–K1660 bounded file hardlinks and directory policy

A new file alias shares the original inode and allocation bit. Namespace link
counts are derived from its entries. Rename changes one alias without changing
the others or allocating an inode. Directory hardlinks are always rejected,
keeping directory parentage unique. Duplicate names, exhausted quota and missing
parents cannot publish a partial alias. Link creation is one serialized state
assignment after all validation succeeds.

The checked 16-bit LinkCount operation used by hardlink creation refuses overflow
without mutation. With at most 62 namespace entries, the complete namespace
cannot reach 65535 links; overflow evidence explicitly tests that counter boundary
independently. A mutant omitting directory hardlink refusal must fail host tests.

This is in-memory metadata evidence. No persistent link-count sectors, journal,
VFS syscalls, open/unlink integration, concurrency or power-loss semantics are
claimed. Six development guest profiles and product release acceptance are
separate gates.