2 .\" Extended attributes system calls manual pages
4 .\" (C) Andreas Gruenbacher, February 2001
5 .\" (C) Silicon Graphics Inc, September 2001
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26 .TH SETXATTR 2 "Extended Attributes" "Dec 2001" "System calls"
28 setxattr, lsetxattr, fsetxattr \- set an extended attribute value
32 .B #include <sys/types.h>
33 .B #include <attr/xattr.h>
35 .BI "int setxattr (const char\ *" path ", const char\ *" name ",
36 .BI "\t\t\t const void\ *" value ", size_t " size ", int " flags );
37 .BI "int lsetxattr (const char\ *" path ", const char\ *" name ",
38 .BI "\t\t\t const void\ *" value ", size_t " size ", int " flags );
39 .BI "int fsetxattr (int " filedes ", const char\ *" name ",
40 .BI "\t\t\t const void\ *" value ", size_t " size ", int " flags );
44 Extended attributes are
47 pairs associated with inodes (files, directories, symlinks, etc).
48 They are extensions to the normal attributes which are associated
49 with all inodes in the system (i.e. the
52 A complete overview of extended attributes concepts can be found in
58 of the extended attribute identified by
60 and associated with the given
72 except in the case of a symbolic link, where the extended attribute is
73 set on the link itself, not the file that it refers to.
78 only the extended attribute is set on the open file pointed to by
85 An extended attribute name is a simple NULL-terminated string.
88 includes a namespace prefix \- there may be several, disjoint
89 namespaces associated with an individual inode.
92 of an extended attribute is a chunk of arbitrary textual or
93 binary data of specified length.
97 parameter can be used to refine the semantics of the operation.
98 XATTR_CREATE specifies a pure create, which fails if the named
99 attribute exists already.
100 XATTR_REPLACE specifies a pure replace operation, which fails if the
101 named attribute does not already exist.
102 By default (no flags), the extended attribute will be created if
103 need be, or will simply replace the value if the attribute exists.
105 On success, zero is returned.
106 On failure, \-1 is returned and
108 is set appropriately.
110 If XATTR_CREATE is specified, and the attribute exists already,
113 If XATTR_REPLACE is specified, and the attribute does not exist,
117 If there is insufficient space remaining to store the extended attribute,
119 is set to either ENOSPC, or EDQUOT if quota enforcement was the cause.
121 If extended attributes are not supported by the filesystem, or are disabled,
125 The errors documented for the
127 system call are also applicable here.
130 .RI < a.gruenbacher@bestbits.at >
131 and the SGI XFS development team,
132 .RI < linux-xfs@oss.sgi.com >.
133 Please send any bug reports or comments to these addresses.