NAME

       getxattr, lgetxattr, fgetxattr - retrieve an extended attribute value

SYNOPSIS

       #include <sys/types.h>
       #include <sys/xattr.h>

       ssize_t getxattr(const char *path, const char *name,
                        void *value, size_t size);
       ssize_t lgetxattr(const char *path, const char *name,
                        void *value, size_t size);
       ssize_t fgetxattr(int fd, const char *name,
                        void *value, size_t size);

DESCRIPTION

       Extended  attributes  are  name:value  pairs  associated with inodes (files, directories, symbolic links,
       etc.).  They are extensions to the normal attributes which are associated with all inodes in  the  system
       (i.e., the stat(2) data).  A complete overview of extended attributes concepts can be found in xattr(7).

       getxattr() retrieves the value of the extended attribute identified by name and associated with the given
       path in the filesystem.  The attribute value is placed in the buffer pointed to by value; size  specifies
       the size of that buffer.  The return value of the call is the number of bytes placed in value.

       lgetxattr()  is  identical to getxattr(), except in the case of a symbolic link, where the link itself is
       interrogated, not the file that it refers to.

       fgetxattr() is identical to getxattr(), only the open file referred to by fd (as returned by open(2))  is
       interrogated in place of path.

       An  extended attribute name is a null-terminated string.  The name includes a namespace prefix; there may
       be several, disjoint namespaces associated with an individual inode.  The value of an extended  attribute
       is a chunk of arbitrary textual or binary data that was assigned using setxattr(2).

       If  size  is  specified as zero, these calls return the current size of the named extended attribute (and
       leave value unchanged).  This can be used to determine the size of the buffer that should be supplied  in
       a  subsequent  call.   (But, bear in mind that there is a possibility that the attribute value may change
       between the two calls, so that it is still necessary to check the return status from the second call.)

RETURN VALUE

       On success, these calls return a nonnegative value which is the size (in bytes) of the extended attribute
       value.  On failure, -1 is returned and errno is set appropriately.

ERRORS

       E2BIG  The  size  of the attribute value is larger than the maximum size allowed; the attribute cannot be
              retrieved.  This can happen on filesystems that support very large attribute values such as NFSv4,
              for example.

       ENODATA
              The named attribute does not exist, or the process has no access to this attribute.

       ENOTSUP
              Extended attributes are not supported by the filesystem, or are disabled.

       ERANGE The size of the value buffer is too small to hold the result.

       In addition, the errors documented in stat(2) can also occur.

VERSIONS

       These system calls have been available on Linux since kernel 2.4; glibc support is provided since version
       2.3.

CONFORMING TO

       These system calls are Linux-specific.

EXAMPLE

       See listxattr(2).

SEE ALSO

       getfattr(1),  setfattr(1),  listxattr(2),  open(2),  removexattr(2),  setxattr(2),  stat(2),  symlink(7),
       xattr(7)

COLOPHON

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