jammy (7) fanotify.7.gz

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NAME

       fanotify - monitoring filesystem events

DESCRIPTION

       The  fanotify  API  provides notification and interception of filesystem events.  Use cases include virus
       scanning and hierarchical storage management.  In the original fanotify API, only a limited set of events
       was supported.  In particular, there was no support for create, delete, and move events.  The support for
       those events was added in Linux 5.1.  (See inotify(7) for details of an API that did notify those  events
       pre Linux 5.1.)

       Additional  capabilities compared to the inotify(7) API include the ability to monitor all of the objects
       in a mounted filesystem, the ability to make access permission decisions, and the possibility to read  or
       modify files before access by other applications.

       The following system calls are used with this API: fanotify_init(2), fanotify_mark(2), read(2), write(2),
       and close(2).

   fanotify_init(), fanotify_mark(), and notification groups
       The fanotify_init(2) system call creates and initializes an fanotify notification  group  and  returns  a
       file descriptor referring to it.

       An  fanotify  notification  group  is  a  kernel-internal object that holds a list of files, directories,
       filesystems, and mount points for which events shall be created.

       For each entry in an fanotify notification group, two bit masks exist: the mark mask and the ignore mask.
       The  mark  mask  defines  file  activities  for which an event shall be created.  The ignore mask defines
       activities for which no event shall be generated.  Having these two types of masks permits a  filesystem,
       mount  point,  or directory to be marked for receiving events, while at the same time ignoring events for
       specific objects under a mount point or directory.

       The fanotify_mark(2) system call adds a file, directory, filesystem or  mount  point  to  a  notification
       group and specifies which events shall be reported (or ignored), or removes or modifies such an entry.

       A  possible  usage  of  the  ignore  mask  is  for a file cache.  Events of interest for a file cache are
       modification of a file and closing of the same.  Hence, the cached directory or  mount  point  is  to  be
       marked to receive these events.  After receiving the first event informing that a file has been modified,
       the corresponding cache entry will be invalidated.  No further modification events for this file  are  of
       interest  until  the  file  is  closed.   Hence,  the modify event can be added to the ignore mask.  Upon
       receiving the close event, the modify event can be removed from the ignore mask and the file cache  entry
       can be updated.

       The entries in the fanotify notification groups refer to files and directories via their inode number and
       to mounts via their mount ID.  If files or directories are renamed or moved within the  same  mount,  the
       respective  entries  survive.   If  files  or  directories  are  deleted  or moved to another mount or if
       filesystems or mounts are unmounted, the corresponding entries are deleted.

   The event queue
       As events occur on the filesystem  objects  monitored  by  a  notification  group,  the  fanotify  system
       generates events that are collected in a queue.  These events can then be read (using read(2) or similar)
       from the fanotify file descriptor returned by fanotify_init(2).

       Two types of events are generated: notification events and permission events.   Notification  events  are
       merely  informative and require no action to be taken by the receiving application with one exception: if
       a valid file descriptor is provided  within  a  generic  event,  the  file  descriptor  must  be  closed.
       Permission  events  are  requests  to  the  receiving application to decide whether permission for a file
       access shall be granted.  For these events, the recipient must write a  response  which  decides  whether
       access is granted or not.

       An  event is removed from the event queue of the fanotify group when it has been read.  Permission events
       that have been read are kept in an internal list of the fanotify group until either a permission decision
       has been taken by writing to the fanotify file descriptor or the fanotify file descriptor is closed.

   Reading fanotify events
       Calling  read(2) for the file descriptor returned by fanotify_init(2) blocks (if the flag FAN_NONBLOCK is
       not specified in the call to  fanotify_init(2))  until  either  a  file  event  occurs  or  the  call  is
       interrupted by a signal (see signal(7)).

       The  use  of one of the flags FAN_REPORT_FID, FAN_REPORT_DIR_FID in fanotify_init(2) influences what data
       structures are returned to the event listener for each event.  Events reported  to  a  group  initialized
       with one of these flags will use file handles to identify filesystem objects instead of file descriptors.

       After a successful
              read(2), the read buffer contains one or more of the following structures:

           struct fanotify_event_metadata {
               __u32 event_len;
               __u8 vers;
               __u8 reserved;
               __u16 metadata_len;
               __aligned_u64 mask;
               __s32 fd;
               __s32 pid;
           };

       In  case  of an fanotify group that identifies filesystem objects by file handles, you should also expect
       to receive one or more additional information records of  the  structure  detailed  below  following  the
       generic fanotify_event_metadata structure within the read buffer:

           struct fanotify_event_info_header {
               __u8 info_type;
               __u8 pad;
               __u16 len;
           };

           struct fanotify_event_info_fid {
               struct fanotify_event_info_header hdr;
               __kernel_fsid_t fsid;
               unsigned char file_handle[0];
           };

       For  performance reasons, it is recommended to use a large buffer size (for example, 4096 bytes), so that
       multiple events can be retrieved by a single read(2).

       The return value of read(2) is the number of bytes placed in the buffer, or -1 in case of an  error  (but
       see BUGS).

       The fields of the fanotify_event_metadata structure are as follows:

       event_len
              This  is  the  length  of  the  data for the current event and the offset to the next event in the
              buffer.  Unless the group identifies filesystem objects by file handles, the value of event_len is
              always  FAN_EVENT_METADATA_LEN.   For  a group that identifies filesystem objects by file handles,
              event_len also includes the variable length file identifier records.

       vers   This  field  holds  a  version   number   for   the   structure.    It   must   be   compared   to
              FANOTIFY_METADATA_VERSION  to verify that the structures returned at run time match the structures
              defined at compile time.  In case of a mismatch, the application should abandon trying to use  the
              fanotify file descriptor.

       reserved
              This field is not used.

       metadata_len
              This is the length of the structure.  The field was introduced to facilitate the implementation of
              optional headers per event type.  No such optional headers exist in the current implementation.

       mask   This is a bit mask describing the event (see below).

       fd     This is an open file descriptor for the object being accessed, or FAN_NOFD  if  a  queue  overflow
              occurred.  With an fanotify group that identifies filesystem objects by file handles, applications
              should expect this value to be set to  FAN_NOFD  for  each  event  that  is  received.   The  file
              descriptor  can  be  used  to access the contents of the monitored file or directory.  The reading
              application is responsible for closing this file descriptor.

              When calling fanotify_init(2), the caller may specify (via  the  event_f_flags  argument)  various
              file  status  flags  that are to be set on the open file description that corresponds to this file
              descriptor.  In addition, the (kernel-internal) FMODE_NONOTIFY file status flag is set on the open
              file  description.   This  flag suppresses fanotify event generation.  Hence, when the receiver of
              the fanotify event accesses the  notified  file  or  directory  using  this  file  descriptor,  no
              additional events will be created.

       pid    If  flag FAN_REPORT_TID was set in fanotify_init(2), this is the TID of the thread that caused the
              event.  Otherwise, this the PID of the process that caused the event.

       A program listening to fanotify events can compare  this  PID  to  the  PID  returned  by  getpid(2),  to
       determine  whether  the  event  is  caused  by the listener itself, or is due to a file access by another
       process.

       The bit mask in mask indicates which events have occurred for a single filesystem object.  Multiple  bits
       may  be  set  in  this  mask,  if  more  than one event occurred for the monitored filesystem object.  In
       particular, consecutive events for the same filesystem object and originating from the same  process  may
       be  merged  into  a single event, with the exception that two permission events are never merged into one
       queue entry.

       The bits that may appear in mask are as follows:

       FAN_ACCESS
              A file or a directory (but see BUGS) was accessed (read).

       FAN_OPEN
              A file or a directory was opened.

       FAN_OPEN_EXEC
              A file was opened with the intent to be executed.  See NOTES in  fanotify_mark(2)  for  additional
              details.

       FAN_ATTRIB
              A file or directory metadata was changed.

       FAN_CREATE
              A child file or directory was created in a watched parent.

       FAN_DELETE
              A child file or directory was deleted in a watched parent.

       FAN_DELETE_SELF
              A watched file or directory was deleted.

       FAN_MOVED_FROM
              A file or directory has been moved from a watched parent directory.

       FAN_MOVED_TO
              A file or directory has been moved to a watched parent directory.

       FAN_MOVE_SELF
              A watched file or directory was moved.

       FAN_MODIFY
              A file was modified.

       FAN_CLOSE_WRITE
              A file that was opened for writing (O_WRONLY or O_RDWR) was closed.

       FAN_CLOSE_NOWRITE
              A file or directory that was opened read-only (O_RDONLY) was closed.

       FAN_Q_OVERFLOW
              The  event  queue exceeded the limit of 16384 entries.  This limit can be overridden by specifying
              the FAN_UNLIMITED_QUEUE flag when calling fanotify_init(2).

       FAN_ACCESS_PERM
              An application wants to read a file or directory, for example using read(2)  or  readdir(2).   The
              reader must write a response (as described below) that determines whether the permission to access
              the filesystem object shall be granted.

       FAN_OPEN_PERM
              An application wants to open a  file  or  directory.   The  reader  must  write  a  response  that
              determines whether the permission to open the filesystem object shall be granted.

       FAN_OPEN_EXEC_PERM
              An  application  wants  to  open  a  file  for  execution.   The reader must write a response that
              determines whether the permission to open the filesystem object for execution  shall  be  granted.
              See NOTES in fanotify_mark(2) for additional details.

       To check for any close event, the following bit mask may be used:

       FAN_CLOSE
              A file was closed.  This is a synonym for:

                  FAN_CLOSE_WRITE | FAN_CLOSE_NOWRITE

       To check for any move event, the following bit mask may be used:

       FAN_MOVE
              A file or directory was moved.  This is a synonym for:

                  FAN_MOVED_FROM | FAN_MOVED_TO

       The following bits may appear in mask only in conjunction with other event type bits:

       FAN_ONDIR
              The  events  described  in  the  mask  have  occurred  on a directory object.  Reporting events on
              directories requires setting this flag in the mark  mask.   See  fanotify_mark(2)  for  additional
              details.   The  FAN_ONDIR  flag is reported in an event mask only if the fanotify group identifies
              filesystem objects by file handles.

       The fields of the fanotify_event_info_fid structure are as follows:

       hdr    This is a structure of type fanotify_event_info_header.  It is  a  generic  header  that  contains
              information used to describe an additional information record attached to the event.  For example,
              when an fanotify file descriptor is created using FAN_REPORT_FID, a single information  record  is
              expected  to be attached to the event with info_type field value of FAN_EVENT_INFO_TYPE_FID.  When
              an  fanotify  file  descriptor  is  created  using   the   combination   of   FAN_REPORT_FID   and
              FAN_REPORT_DIR_FID, there may be two information records attached to the event: one with info_type
              field value of FAN_EVENT_INFO_TYPE_DFID, identifying a  parent  directory  object,  and  one  with
              info_type  field  value  of  FAN_EVENT_INFO_TYPE_FID,  identifying  a  non-directory  object.  The
              fanotify_event_info_header contains a len field.  The value of len is the size of  the  additional
              information  record  including  the  fanotify_event_info_header  itself.   The  total  size of all
              additional information records is not expected to be bigger than ( event_len - metadata_len ).

       fsid   This is a unique identifier of the filesystem containing the object associated with the event.  It
              is  a  structure  of  type  __kernel_fsid_t  and  contains  the  same value as f_fsid when calling
              statfs(2).

       file_handle
              This is a variable length structure of type struct file_handle.   It  is  an  opaque  handle  that
              corresponds  to a specified object on a filesystem as returned by name_to_handle_at(2).  It can be
              used to uniquely  identify  a  file  on  a  filesystem  and  can  be  passed  as  an  argument  to
              open_by_handle_at(2).    Note  that  for  the  directory  entry  modification  events  FAN_CREATE,
              FAN_DELETE,  and  FAN_MOVE,  the  file_handle  identifies  the  modified  directory  and  not  the
              created/deleted/moved    child    object.     If    the    value    of    info_type    field    is
              FAN_EVENT_INFO_TYPE_DFID_NAME, the file handle is  followed  by  a  null  terminated  string  that
              identifies  the  created/deleted/moved  directory  entry name.  For other events such as FAN_OPEN,
              FAN_ATTRIB,  FAN_DELETE_SELF,  and  FAN_MOVE_SELF,  if   the   value   of   info_type   field   is
              FAN_EVENT_INFO_TYPE_FID,  the  file_handle  identifies the object correlated to the event.  If the
              value of info_type field is FAN_EVENT_INFO_TYPE_DFID, the  file_handle  identifies  the  directory
              object correlated to the event or the parent directory of a non-directory object correlated to the
              event.  If  the  value  of  info_type  field  is  FAN_EVENT_INFO_TYPE_DFID_NAME,  the  file_handle
              identifies  the same directory object that would be reported with FAN_EVENT_INFO_TYPE_DFID and the
              file handle is followed by a null terminated string that identifies the name of a directory  entry
              in that directory, or '.' to identify the directory object itself.

       The following macros are provided to iterate over a buffer containing fanotify event metadata returned by
       a read(2) from an fanotify file descriptor:

       FAN_EVENT_OK(meta, len)
              This macro checks the remaining length len of the buffer meta against the length of  the  metadata
              structure and the event_len field of the first metadata structure in the buffer.

       FAN_EVENT_NEXT(meta, len)
              This  macro  uses the length indicated in the event_len field of the metadata structure pointed to
              by meta to calculate the address of the next metadata structure that follows  meta.   len  is  the
              number  of  bytes of metadata that currently remain in the buffer.  The macro returns a pointer to
              the next metadata structure that follows meta, and reduces len by  the  number  of  bytes  in  the
              metadata structure that has been skipped over (i.e., it subtracts meta->event_len from len).

       In addition, there is:

       FAN_EVENT_METADATA_LEN
              This  macro  returns  the  size  (in bytes) of the structure fanotify_event_metadata.  This is the
              minimum size (and currently the only size) of any event metadata.

   Monitoring an fanotify file descriptor for events
       When an fanotify event occurs, the  fanotify  file  descriptor  indicates  as  readable  when  passed  to
       epoll(7), poll(2), or select(2).

   Dealing with permission events
       For  permission  events,  the application must write(2) a structure of the following form to the fanotify
       file descriptor:

           struct fanotify_response {
               __s32 fd;
               __u32 response;
           };

       The fields of this structure are as follows:

       fd     This is the file descriptor from the structure fanotify_event_metadata.

       response
              This field indicates whether or not the permission is to be granted.  Its  value  must  be  either
              FAN_ALLOW to allow the file operation or FAN_DENY to deny the file operation.

       If access is denied, the requesting application call will receive an EPERM error.

   Closing the fanotify file descriptor
       When  all file descriptors referring to the fanotify notification group are closed, the fanotify group is
       released and its resources are freed for reuse by the  kernel.   Upon  close(2),  outstanding  permission
       events will be set to allowed.

   /proc/[pid]/fdinfo
       The  file  /proc/[pid]/fdinfo/[fd]  contains  information  about fanotify marks for file descriptor fd of
       process pid.  See proc(5) for details.

ERRORS

       In addition to the usual errors for read(2), the  following  errors  can  occur  when  reading  from  the
       fanotify file descriptor:

       EINVAL The buffer is too small to hold the event.

       EMFILE The  per-process  limit  on  the  number  of  open files has been reached.  See the description of
              RLIMIT_NOFILE in getrlimit(2).

       ENFILE The  system-wide  limit  on  the  total  number   of   open   files   has   been   reached.    See
              /proc/sys/fs/file-max in proc(5).

       ETXTBSY
              This  error  is  returned  by  read(2)  if  O_RDWR  or O_WRONLY was specified in the event_f_flags
              argument when calling fanotify_init(2) and  an  event  occurred  for  a  monitored  file  that  is
              currently being executed.

       In addition to the usual errors for write(2), the following errors can occur when writing to the fanotify
       file descriptor:

       EINVAL Fanotify access permissions are not enabled in the kernel configuration or the value  of  response
              in the response structure is not valid.

       ENOENT The file descriptor fd in the response structure is not valid.  This may occur when a response for
              the permission event has already been written.

VERSIONS

       The fanotify API was introduced in version 2.6.36 of the Linux kernel  and  enabled  in  version  2.6.37.
       Fdinfo support was added in version 3.8.

CONFORMING TO

       The fanotify API is Linux-specific.

NOTES

       The  fanotify API is available only if the kernel was built with the CONFIG_FANOTIFY configuration option
       enabled.    In    addition,    fanotify    permission    handling    is    available    only    if    the
       CONFIG_FANOTIFY_ACCESS_PERMISSIONS configuration option is enabled.

   Limitations and caveats
       Fanotify reports only events that a user-space program triggers through the filesystem API.  As a result,
       it does not catch remote events that occur on network filesystems.

       The fanotify API does not report file accesses and modifications  that  may  occur  because  of  mmap(2),
       msync(2), and munmap(2).

       Events  for  directories  are  created only if the directory itself is opened, read, and closed.  Adding,
       removing, or changing children of a marked directory does not create events for the  monitored  directory
       itself.

       Fanotify  monitoring  of  directories  is  not  recursive:  to  monitor subdirectories under a directory,
       additional marks must be created.  The FAN_CREATE event can be used for detecting when a subdirectory has
       been  created  under  a  marked  directory.   An  additional  mark  must then be set on the newly created
       subdirectory.  This approach is racy, because it can lose events that occurred inside the  newly  created
       subdirectory,  before  a  mark is added on that subdirectory.  Monitoring mounts offers the capability to
       monitor a whole directory tree in a race-free manner.  Monitoring filesystems offers  the  capability  to
       monitor changes made from any mount of a filesystem instance in a race-free manner.

       The event queue can overflow.  In this case, events are lost.

BUGS

       Before  Linux  3.19,  fallocate(2)  did  not  generate  fanotify  events.   Since  Linux  3.19,  calls to
       fallocate(2) generate FAN_MODIFY events.

       As of Linux 3.17, the following bugs exist:

       *  On Linux, a filesystem object may be accessible through multiple paths,  for  example,  a  part  of  a
          filesystem  may be remounted using the --bind option of mount(8).  A listener that marked a mount will
          be notified only of events that were triggered for a filesystem object  using  the  same  mount.   Any
          other event will pass unnoticed.

       *  When  an  event is generated, no check is made to see whether the user ID of the receiving process has
          authorization to read or write the file before passing a file descriptor for that file.  This poses  a
          security risk, when the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability is set for programs executed by unprivileged users.

       *  If a call to read(2) processes multiple events from the fanotify queue and an error occurs, the return
          value will be the total length of the events successfully copied to the user-space buffer  before  the
          error  occurred.   The  return  value  will  not  be -1, and errno will not be set.  Thus, the reading
          application has no way to detect the error.

EXAMPLES

       The two example programs below demonstrate the usage of the fanotify API.

   Example program: fanotify_example.c
       The first program is an example of fanotify being used with its event object information  passed  in  the
       form of a file descriptor.  The program marks the mount point passed as a command-line argument and waits
       for events of type FAN_OPEN_PERM and FAN_CLOSE_WRITE.   When  a  permission  event  occurs,  a  FAN_ALLOW
       response is given.

       The  following shell session shows an example of running this program.  This session involved editing the
       file /home/user/temp/notes.  Before the file was opened, a FAN_OPEN_PERM event occurred.  After the  file
       was  closed,  a  FAN_CLOSE_WRITE event occurred.  Execution of the program ends when the user presses the
       ENTER key.

           # ./fanotify_example /home
           Press enter key to terminate.
           Listening for events.
           FAN_OPEN_PERM: File /home/user/temp/notes
           FAN_CLOSE_WRITE: File /home/user/temp/notes

           Listening for events stopped.

   Program source: fanotify_example.c

       #define _GNU_SOURCE     /* Needed to get O_LARGEFILE definition */
       #include <errno.h>
       #include <fcntl.h>
       #include <limits.h>
       #include <poll.h>
       #include <stdio.h>
       #include <stdlib.h>
       #include <sys/fanotify.h>
       #include <unistd.h>

       /* Read all available fanotify events from the file descriptor 'fd' */

       static void
       handle_events(int fd)
       {
           const struct fanotify_event_metadata *metadata;
           struct fanotify_event_metadata buf[200];
           ssize_t len;
           char path[PATH_MAX];
           ssize_t path_len;
           char procfd_path[PATH_MAX];
           struct fanotify_response response;

           /* Loop while events can be read from fanotify file descriptor */

           for (;;) {

               /* Read some events */

               len = read(fd, buf, sizeof(buf));
               if (len == -1 && errno != EAGAIN) {
                   perror("read");
                   exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
               }

               /* Check if end of available data reached */

               if (len <= 0)
                   break;

               /* Point to the first event in the buffer */

               metadata = buf;

               /* Loop over all events in the buffer */

               while (FAN_EVENT_OK(metadata, len)) {

                   /* Check that run-time and compile-time structures match */

                   if (metadata->vers != FANOTIFY_METADATA_VERSION) {
                       fprintf(stderr,
                               "Mismatch of fanotify metadata version.\n");
                       exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
                   }

                   /* metadata->fd contains either FAN_NOFD, indicating a
                      queue overflow, or a file descriptor (a nonnegative
                      integer). Here, we simply ignore queue overflow. */

                   if (metadata->fd >= 0) {

                       /* Handle open permission event */

                       if (metadata->mask & FAN_OPEN_PERM) {
                           printf("FAN_OPEN_PERM: ");

                           /* Allow file to be opened */

                           response.fd = metadata->fd;
                           response.response = FAN_ALLOW;
                           write(fd, &response, sizeof(response));
                       }

                       /* Handle closing of writable file event */

                       if (metadata->mask & FAN_CLOSE_WRITE)
                           printf("FAN_CLOSE_WRITE: ");

                       /* Retrieve and print pathname of the accessed file */

                       snprintf(procfd_path, sizeof(procfd_path),
                                "/proc/self/fd/%d", metadata->fd);
                       path_len = readlink(procfd_path, path,
                                           sizeof(path) - 1);
                       if (path_len == -1) {
                           perror("readlink");
                           exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
                       }

                       path[path_len] = '\0';
                       printf("File %s\n", path);

                       /* Close the file descriptor of the event */

                       close(metadata->fd);
                   }

                   /* Advance to next event */

                   metadata = FAN_EVENT_NEXT(metadata, len);
               }
           }
       }

       int
       main(int argc, char *argv[])
       {
           char buf;
           int fd, poll_num;
           nfds_t nfds;
           struct pollfd fds[2];

           /* Check mount point is supplied */

           if (argc != 2) {
               fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s MOUNT\n", argv[0]);
               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
           }

           printf("Press enter key to terminate.\n");

           /* Create the file descriptor for accessing the fanotify API */

           fd = fanotify_init(FAN_CLOEXEC | FAN_CLASS_CONTENT | FAN_NONBLOCK,
                              O_RDONLY | O_LARGEFILE);
           if (fd == -1) {
               perror("fanotify_init");
               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
           }

           /* Mark the mount for:
              - permission events before opening files
              - notification events after closing a write-enabled
                file descriptor */

           if (fanotify_mark(fd, FAN_MARK_ADD | FAN_MARK_MOUNT,
                             FAN_OPEN_PERM | FAN_CLOSE_WRITE, AT_FDCWD,
                             argv[1]) == -1) {
               perror("fanotify_mark");
               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
           }

           /* Prepare for polling */

           nfds = 2;

           /* Console input */

           fds[0].fd = STDIN_FILENO;
           fds[0].events = POLLIN;

           /* Fanotify input */

           fds[1].fd = fd;
           fds[1].events = POLLIN;

           /* This is the loop to wait for incoming events */

           printf("Listening for events.\n");

           while (1) {
               poll_num = poll(fds, nfds, -1);
               if (poll_num == -1) {
                   if (errno == EINTR)     /* Interrupted by a signal */
                       continue;           /* Restart poll() */

                   perror("poll");         /* Unexpected error */
                   exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
               }

               if (poll_num > 0) {
                   if (fds[0].revents & POLLIN) {

                       /* Console input is available: empty stdin and quit */

                       while (read(STDIN_FILENO, &buf, 1) > 0 && buf != '\n')
                           continue;
                       break;
                   }

                   if (fds[1].revents & POLLIN) {

                       /* Fanotify events are available */

                       handle_events(fd);
                   }
               }
           }

           printf("Listening for events stopped.\n");
           exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
       }

   Example program: fanotify_fid.c
       The second program is an example of fanotify being used with a group  that  identifies  objects  by  file
       handles.   The  program  marks  the filesystem object that is passed as a command-line argument and waits
       until an event of type FAN_CREATE has occurred.  The  event  mask  indicates  which  type  of  filesystem
       object—either  a  file  or  a  directory—was created.  Once all events have been read from the buffer and
       processed accordingly, the program simply terminates.

       The following shell sessions show two different invocations  of  this  program,  with  different  actions
       performed on a watched object.

       The first session shows a mark being placed on /home/user.  This is followed by the creation of a regular
       file, /home/user/testfile.txt.  This results in a FAN_CREATE event being generated and  reported  against
       the  file's  parent watched directory object and with the created file name.  Program execution ends once
       all events captured within the buffer have been processed.

           # ./fanotify_fid /home/user
           Listening for events.
           FAN_CREATE (file created):
                   Directory /home/user has been modified.
                   Entry 'testfile.txt' is not a subdirectory.
           All events processed successfully. Program exiting.

           $ touch /home/user/testfile.txt              # In another terminal

       The second session shows a mark being placed on /home/user.  This  is  followed  by  the  creation  of  a
       directory, /home/user/testdir.  This specific action results in a FAN_CREATE event being generated and is
       reported with the FAN_ONDIR flag set and with the created directory name.

           # ./fanotify_fid /home/user
           Listening for events.
           FAN_CREATE | FAN_ONDIR (subdirectory created):
                   Directory /home/user has been modified.
                   Entry 'testdir' is a subdirectory.
           All events processed successfully. Program exiting.

           $ mkdir -p /home/user/testdir          # In another terminal

   Program source: fanotify_fid.c

       #define _GNU_SOURCE
       #include <errno.h>
       #include <fcntl.h>
       #include <limits.h>
       #include <stdio.h>
       #include <stdlib.h>
       #include <sys/types.h>
       #include <sys/stat.h>
       #include <sys/fanotify.h>
       #include <unistd.h>

       #define BUF_SIZE 256

       int
       main(int argc, char **argv)
       {
           int fd, ret, event_fd, mount_fd;
           ssize_t len, path_len;
           char path[PATH_MAX];
           char procfd_path[PATH_MAX];
           char events_buf[BUF_SIZE];
           struct file_handle *file_handle;
           struct fanotify_event_metadata *metadata;
           struct fanotify_event_info_fid *fid;
           const char *file_name;
           struct stat sb;

           if (argc != 2) {
               fprintf(stderr, "Invalid number of command line arguments.\n");
               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
           }

           mount_fd = open(argv[1], O_DIRECTORY | O_RDONLY);
           if (mount_fd == -1) {
               perror(argv[1]);
               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
           }

           /* Create an fanotify file descriptor with FAN_REPORT_DFID_NAME as
              a flag so that program can receive fid events with directory
              entry name. */

           fd = fanotify_init(FAN_CLASS_NOTIF | FAN_REPORT_DFID_NAME, 0);
           if (fd == -1) {
               perror("fanotify_init");
               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
           }

           /* Place a mark on the filesystem object supplied in argv[1]. */

           ret = fanotify_mark(fd, FAN_MARK_ADD | FAN_MARK_ONLYDIR,
                               FAN_CREATE | FAN_ONDIR,
                               AT_FDCWD, argv[1]);
           if (ret == -1) {
               perror("fanotify_mark");
               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
           }

           printf("Listening for events.\n");

           /* Read events from the event queue into a buffer */

           len = read(fd, events_buf, sizeof(events_buf));
           if (len == -1 && errno != EAGAIN) {
               perror("read");
               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
           }

           /* Process all events within the buffer */

           for (metadata = (struct fanotify_event_metadata *) events_buf;
                   FAN_EVENT_OK(metadata, len);
                   metadata = FAN_EVENT_NEXT(metadata, len)) {
               fid = (struct fanotify_event_info_fid *) (metadata + 1);
               file_handle = (struct file_handle *) fid->handle;

               /* Ensure that the event info is of the correct type */

               if (fid->hdr.info_type == FAN_EVENT_INFO_TYPE_FID ||
                   fid->hdr.info_type == FAN_EVENT_INFO_TYPE_DFID) {
                   file_name = NULL;
               } else if (fid->hdr.info_type == FAN_EVENT_INFO_TYPE_DFID_NAME) {
                   file_name = file_handle->f_handle +
                               file_handle->handle_bytes;
               } else {
                   fprintf(stderr, "Received unexpected event info type.\n");
                   exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
               }

               if (metadata->mask == FAN_CREATE)
                   printf("FAN_CREATE (file created):\n");

               if (metadata->mask == (FAN_CREATE | FAN_ONDIR))
                   printf("FAN_CREATE | FAN_ONDIR (subdirectory created):\n");

            /* metadata->fd is set to FAN_NOFD when the group identifies
               objects by file handles.  To obtain a file descriptor for
               the file object corresponding to an event you can use the
               struct file_handle that's provided within the
               fanotify_event_info_fid in conjunction with the
               open_by_handle_at(2) system call.  A check for ESTALE is
               done to accommodate for the situation where the file handle
               for the object was deleted prior to this system call. */

               event_fd = open_by_handle_at(mount_fd, file_handle, O_RDONLY);
               if (event_fd == -1) {
                   if (errno == ESTALE) {
                       printf("File handle is no longer valid. "
                               "File has been deleted\n");
                       continue;
                   } else {
                       perror("open_by_handle_at");
                       exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
                   }
               }

               snprintf(procfd_path, sizeof(procfd_path), "/proc/self/fd/%d",
                       event_fd);

               /* Retrieve and print the path of the modified dentry */

               path_len = readlink(procfd_path, path, sizeof(path) - 1);
               if (path_len == -1) {
                   perror("readlink");
                   exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
               }

               path[path_len] = '\0';
               printf("\tDirectory '%s' has been modified.\n", path);

               if (file_name) {
                   ret = fstatat(event_fd, file_name, &sb, 0);
                   if (ret == -1) {
                       if (errno != ENOENT) {
                           perror("fstatat");
                           exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
                       }
                       printf("\tEntry '%s' does not exist.\n", file_name);
                   } else if ((sb.st_mode & S_IFMT) == S_IFDIR) {
                       printf("\tEntry '%s' is a subdirectory.\n", file_name);
                   } else {
                       printf("\tEntry '%s' is not a subdirectory.\n",
                               file_name);
                   }
               }

               /* Close associated file descriptor for this event */

               close(event_fd);
           }

           printf("All events processed successfully. Program exiting.\n");
           exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
       }

SEE ALSO

       fanotify_init(2), fanotify_mark(2), inotify(7)

COLOPHON

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