NAME

       setxattr, lsetxattr, fsetxattr - set an extended attribute value

LIBRARY

       Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

       #include <sys/xattr.h>

       int setxattr(const char *path, const char *name,
                     const void value[.size], size_t size, int flags);
       int lsetxattr(const char *path, const char *name,
                     const void value[.size], size_t size, int flags);
       int fsetxattr(int fd, const char *name,
                     const void value[.size], size_t size, int flags);

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).

       setxattr() sets the value of the extended attribute identified by name and associated with the given path
       in  the  filesystem.   The  size  argument specifies the size (in bytes) of value; a zero-length value is
       permitted.

       lsetxattr() is identical to setxattr(), except in the  case  of  a  symbolic  link,  where  the  extended
       attribute is set on the link itself, not the file that it refers to.

       fsetxattr()  is  identical to setxattr(), only the extended attribute is set on the open file referred to
       by fd (as returned by open(2)) 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 of specified length.

       By default (i.e., flags is zero), the extended attribute will be created if it does  not  exist,  or  the
       value  will be replaced if the attribute already exists.  To modify these semantics, one of the following
       values can be specified in flags:

       XATTR_CREATE
              Perform a pure create, which fails if the named attribute exists already.

       XATTR_REPLACE
              Perform a pure replace operation, which fails if the named attribute does not already exist.

RETURN VALUE

       On success, zero is returned.  On failure, -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

       EDQUOT Disk quota limits meant  that  there  is  insufficient  space  remaining  to  store  the  extended
              attribute.

       EEXIST XATTR_CREATE was specified, and the attribute exists already.

       ENODATA
              XATTR_REPLACE was specified, and the attribute does not exist.

       ENOSPC There is insufficient space remaining to store the extended attribute.

       ENOTSUP
              The namespace prefix of name is not valid.

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

       EPERM  The file is marked immutable or append-only.  (See ioctl_iflags(2).)

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

       ERANGE The size of name or value exceeds a filesystem-specific limit.

STANDARDS

       Linux.

HISTORY

       Linux 2.4, glibc 2.3.

SEE ALSO

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

Linux man-pages 6.7                                2023-10-31                                        setxattr(2)