Ubuntu Manpage: FS_IOC_GETFLAGS, FS_IOC_SETFLAGS - ioctl() operations for inode flags

NAME

       FS_IOC_GETFLAGS, FS_IOC_SETFLAGS - ioctl() operations for inode flags

SYNOPSIS

       #include <linux/fs.h>  /* Definition of FS_* constants */
       #include <sys/ioctl.h>

       int ioctl(int fd, FS_IOC_GETFLAGS, int *attr);
       int ioctl(int fd, FS_IOC_SETFLAGS, const int *attr);

DESCRIPTION

Various Linux filesystems support the notion of inode flags—attributes that modify the semantics of files
and directories. These flags can be retrieved and modified using two ioctl(2) operations:

int attr;
fd = open("pathname", ...);

ioctl(fd, FS_IOC_GETFLAGS, &attr); /* Place current flags
in 'attr' */
attr |= FS_NOATIME_FL; /* Tweak returned bit mask */
ioctl(fd, FS_IOC_SETFLAGS, &attr); /* Update flags for inode
referred to by 'fd' */

The lsattr(1) and chattr(1) shell commands provide interfaces to these two operations, allowing a user to
view and modify the inode flags associated with a file.

The following flags are supported (shown along with the corresponding letter used to indicate the flag by
lsattr(1) and chattr(1)):

FS_APPEND_FL 'a'
The file can be opened only with the O_APPEND flag. If applied to a directory, forbids removing
files from the directory (via unlink(), rename(), and the like). (This restriction applies even
to the superuser.) Only a privileged process (CAP_LINUX_IMMUTABLE) can set or clear this
attribute.

FS_COMPR_FL 'c'
Store the file in a compressed format on disk. This flag is not supported by most of the
mainstream filesystem implementations; one exception is btrfs(5).

FS_DIRSYNC_FL 'D' (since Linux 2.6.0)
Write directory changes synchronously to disk. This flag provides semantics equivalent to the
mount(2) MS_DIRSYNC option, but on a per-directory basis. This flag can be applied only to
directories.

FS_IMMUTABLE_FL 'i'
The file is immutable: no changes are permitted to the file contents or metadata (permissions,
timestamps, ownership, link count, and so on). (This restriction applies even to the superuser.)
Only a privileged process (CAP_LINUX_IMMUTABLE) can set or clear this attribute.

FS_JOURNAL_DATA_FL 'j'
Enable journaling of file data on ext3(5) and ext4(5) filesystems. On a filesystem that is
journaling in ordered or writeback mode, a privileged (CAP_SYS_RESOURCE) process can set this flag
to enable journaling of data updates on a per-file basis.

FS_NOATIME_FL 'A'
Don't update the file last access time when the file is accessed. This can provide I/O
performance benefits for applications that do not care about the accuracy of this timestamp. This
flag provides functionality similar to the mount(2) MS_NOATIME flag, but on a per-file basis.

FS_NOCOW_FL 'C' (since Linux 2.6.39)
The file will not be subject to copy-on-write updates. This flag has an effect only on
filesystems that support copy-on-write semantics, such as Btrfs. See chattr(1) and btrfs(5).

FS_NODUMP_FL 'd'
Don't include this file in backups made using dump(8).

FS_NOTAIL_FL 't'
This flag is supported only on Reiserfs. It disables the Reiserfs tail-packing feature, which
tries to pack small files (and the final fragment of larger files) into the same disk block as the
file metadata.

FS_PROJINHERIT_FL 'P' (since Linux 4.5)
Inherit the quota project ID. Files and subdirectories will inherit the project ID of the
directory. This flag can be applied only to directories.

FS_SECRM_FL 's'
Mark the file for secure deletion. This feature is not implemented by any filesystem, since the
task of securely erasing a file from a recording medium is surprisingly difficult.

FS_SYNC_FL 'S'
Make file updates synchronous. For files, this makes all writes synchronous (as though all opens
of the file were with the O_SYNC flag). For directories, this has the same effect as the
FS_DIRSYNC_FL flag.

FS_TOPDIR_FL 'T'
Mark a directory for special treatment under the Orlov block-allocation strategy. See chattr(1)
for details. This flag can be applied only to directories and has an effect only for ext2, ext3,
and ext4.

FS_UNRM_FL 'u'
Allow the file to be undeleted if it is deleted. This feature is not implemented by any
filesystem, since it is possible to implement file-recovery mechanisms outside the kernel.

In most cases, when any of the above flags is set on a directory, the flag is inherited by files and
subdirectories created inside that directory. Exceptions include FS_TOPDIR_FL, which is not inheritable,
and FS_DIRSYNC_FL, which is inherited only by subdirectories.

STANDARDS

       Linux.

NOTES

       In  order  to change the inode flags of a file using the FS_IOC_SETFLAGS operation, the effective user ID
       of the caller must match the owner of the file, or the caller must have the CAP_FOWNER capability.

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

STANDARDS

NOTES

SEE ALSO