NAME

       execveat - execute program relative to a directory file descriptor

SYNOPSIS

       #include <unistd.h>

       int execveat(int dirfd, const char *pathname,
                    char *const argv[], char *const envp[],
                    int flags);

DESCRIPTION

       The execveat() system call executes the program referred to by the combination of dirfd and pathname.  It
       operates in exactly the same way as execve(2), except for the differences described in this manual page.

       If  the pathname given in pathname is relative, then it is interpreted relative to the directory referred
       to by the file descriptor dirfd (rather than relative to the current working  directory  of  the  calling
       process, as is done by execve(2) for a relative pathname).

       If pathname is relative and dirfd is the special value AT_FDCWD, then pathname is interpreted relative to
       the current working directory of the calling process (like execve(2)).

       If pathname is absolute, then dirfd is ignored.

       If  pathname  is  an empty string and the AT_EMPTY_PATH flag is specified, then the file descriptor dirfd
       specifies the file to be executed (i.e., dirfd refers to an executable file, rather than a directory).

       The flags argument is a bit mask that can include zero or more of the following flags:

       AT_EMPTY_PATH
              If pathname is an empty string, operate on the file referred to by  dirfd  (which  may  have  been
              obtained using the open(2) O_PATH flag).

       AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW
              If  the  file  identified by dirfd and a non-NULL pathname is a symbolic link, then the call fails
              with the error ELOOP.

RETURN VALUE

       On success, execveat() does not return.  On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.

ERRORS

       The same errors that occur for execve(2) can also occur for execveat().  The following additional  errors
       can occur for execveat():

       EBADF  dirfd is not a valid file descriptor.

       EINVAL Invalid flag specified in flags.

       ELOOP  flags  includes  AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW and the file identified by dirfd and a non-NULL pathname is a
              symbolic link.

       ENOENT The program identified by dirfd and pathname requires the use of an interpreter program (such as a
              script starting with "#!"), but the file descriptor dirfd was opened with the O_CLOEXEC flag, with
              the result that the program file is inaccessible to the launched interpreter.  See BUGS.

       ENOTDIR
              pathname is relative and dirfd is a file descriptor referring to a file other than a directory.

VERSIONS

       execveat() was added to Linux in kernel 3.19.  GNU C library support is pending.

CONFORMING TO

       The execveat() system call is Linux-specific.

NOTES

       In addition to the reasons explained in openat(2), the execveat() system call is  also  needed  to  allow
       fexecve(3) to be implemented on systems that do not have the /proc filesystem mounted.

       When  asked to execute a script file, the argv[0] that is passed to the script interpreter is a string of
       the form /dev/fd/N or /dev/fd/N/P, where N is the number of the file  descriptor  passed  via  the  dirfd
       argument.  A string of the first form occurs when AT_EMPTY_PATH is employed.  A string of the second form
       occurs  when  the  script is specified via both dirfd and pathname; in this case, P is the value given in
       pathname.

       For the same reasons described in fexecve(3), the natural idiom when  using  execveat()  is  to  set  the
       close-on-exec flag on dirfd.  (But see BUGS.)

BUGS

       The  ENOENT error described above means that it is not possible to set the close-on-exec flag on the file
       descriptor given to a call of the form:

           execveat(fd, "", argv, envp, AT_EMPTY_PATH);

       However, the inability to set the close-on-exec flag means that a file descriptor referring to the script
       leaks through to the script itself.  As well as wasting a file descriptor, this leakage can lead to file-
       descriptor exhaustion in scenarios where scripts recursively employ execveat().

SEE ALSO

       execve(2), openat(2), fexecve(3)

COLOPHON

       This page is part of release 5.10 of  the  Linux  man-pages  project.   A  description  of  the  project,
       information   about   reporting   bugs,   and   the  latest  version  of  this  page,  can  be  found  at
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

Linux                                              2017-09-15                                        EXECVEAT(2)