diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 14895992..48f5ad4d 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 - osc build has a smarter default platform selection - it checks the
   availibility config value, 'standard' and 'opensuse_Factory' in platforms list and in case
   of fail it uses the last entry from that list
+- new osc linkpac -f to allow to override existing _link files
 
 0.117:
 - support checkout of single package via "osc co PACKAGE" when local dir is project
diff --git a/osc/commandline.py b/osc/commandline.py
index 5cf3266d..cd7f9502 100755
--- a/osc/commandline.py
+++ b/osc/commandline.py
@@ -874,6 +874,8 @@ Please submit there instead, or use --nodevelproject to force direct submission.
                   help='cicount attribute in the link, known values are add, copy, and local, default in buildservice is currently add.')
     @cmdln.option('-r', '--revision', metavar='rev',
                   help='link the specified revision.')
+    @cmdln.option('-f', '--force', action='store_true',
+                  help='overwrite an existing link file if it is there.')
     def do_linkpac(self, subcmd, opts, *args):
         """${cmd_name}: "Link" a package to another package
 
@@ -922,7 +924,7 @@ Please submit there instead, or use --nodevelproject to force direct submission.
             print >>sys.stderr, 'Revision \'%s\' does not exist' % rev
             sys.exit(1)
 
-        link_pac(src_project, src_package, dst_project, dst_package, rev, opts.cicount)
+        link_pac(src_project, src_package, dst_project, dst_package, opts.force, rev, opts.cicount)
 
     def do_aggregatepac(self, subcmd, opts, *args):
         """${cmd_name}: "Aggregate" a package to another package
diff --git a/osc/core.py b/osc/core.py
index a52c569e..7677df40 100755
--- a/osc/core.py
+++ b/osc/core.py
@@ -2622,7 +2622,7 @@ def replace_pkg_meta(pkgmeta, new_name, new_prj, keep_maintainers = False,
             root.remove(dp)
     return ET.tostring(root)
 
-def link_pac(src_project, src_package, dst_project, dst_package, rev='', cicount=''):
+def link_pac(src_project, src_package, dst_project, dst_package, force, rev='', cicount=''):
     """
     create a linked package
      - "src" is the original package
@@ -2639,9 +2639,12 @@ def link_pac(src_project, src_package, dst_project, dst_package, rev='', cicount
     # create the _link file
     # but first, make sure not to overwrite an existing one
     if '_link' in meta_get_filelist(conf.config['apiurl'], dst_project, dst_package):
-        print >>sys.stderr
-        print >>sys.stderr, '_link file already exists...! Aborting'
-        sys.exit(1)
+        if force:
+            print >>sys.stderr, 'forced overwrite of existing _link file'
+        else:
+            print >>sys.stderr
+            print >>sys.stderr, '_link file already exists...! Aborting'
+            sys.exit(1)
     
     if rev:
         rev = 'rev="%s"' % rev