handle(3) — Linux manual page

NAME | C SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUE | ERRORS | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

HANDLE(3)               Library Functions Manual               HANDLE(3)

NAME         top

       path_to_handle, path_to_fshandle, fd_to_handle,
       handle_to_fshandle, open_by_handle, readlink_by_handle,
       attr_multi_by_handle, attr_list_by_handle, fssetdm_by_handle,
       free_handle, getparents_by_handle, getparentpaths_by_handle -
       file handle operations

C SYNOPSIS         top

       #include <sys/types.h>
       #include <xfs/handle.h>

       int path_to_handle(char *path, void **hanp, size_t *hlen);

       int path_to_fshandle(char *path, void **hanp, size_t *hlen);

       int fd_to_handle(int fd, void **hanp, size_t *hlen);

       int handle_to_fshandle(void *hanp, size_t hlen, void **fshanp,
              size_t *fshlen);

       int open_by_handle(void *hanp, size_t hlen, int oflag);

       int readlink_by_handle(void *hanp, size_t hlen, void *buf, size_t
              bs);

       int attr_multi_by_handle(void *hanp, size_t hlen, void *buf, int
              rtrvcnt, int flags);

       int attr_list_by_handle(void *hanp, size_t hlen, char *buf,
              size_t bufsiz, int flags, struct attrlist_cursor *cursor);

       int fssetdm_by_handle(void *hanp, size_t hlen, struct fsdmidata
              *fssetdm);

       void free_handle(void *hanp, size_t hlen);

       int getparents_by_handle(void *hanp, size_t hlen, parent_t *buf,
              size_t bufsiz, parent_cursor_t *cursor, unsigned int
              *count, unsigned int *more);

       int getparentpaths_by_handle(void *hanp, size_t hlen, parent_t
              *buf, size_t bufsiz, parent_cursor_t *cursor, unsigned int
              *count, unsigned int *more);

DESCRIPTION         top

       These functions provide a way to perform certain filesystem
       operations without using a file descriptor to access filesystem
       objects. They are intended for use by a limited set of system
       utilities such as backup programs. They are supported only by the
       XFS filesystem.  Link with the libhandle library to access these
       functions.

       A handle, hanp, uniquely identifies a filesystem object or an
       entire filesystem.  There is one and only one handle per
       filesystem or filesystem object.  Handles consist of some number
       of bytes. The size of a handle (i.e. the number of bytes
       comprising it) varies by the type of handle and may vary for
       different objects of the same type.  The content of a handle is
       opaque to applications.  Since handle sizes vary and their
       contents are opaque, handles are described by two quantities, a
       pointer (hanp) and a size (hlen).  The size, hlen, indicates the
       number of bytes in the handle which are pointed to by the
       pointer.

       The path_to_handle() function returns the handle for the object
       given by the path argument. If the final component of the path
       name is a symbolic link, the handle returned is that of the link
       itself.

       The path_to_fshandle() function returns the handle for the
       filesystem in which the object given by the path argument
       resides.

       The fd_to_handle() function returns the handle for the object
       referenced by the fd argument, which must be a valid file
       descriptor.

       The handle_to_fshandle() function returns the handle for the
       filesystem in which the object referenced by the handle given by
       the hanp and hlen arguments resides.

       The open_by_handle() function opens a file descriptor for the
       object referenced by a handle.  It is analogous and identical to
       open(2) with the exception of accepting handles instead of path
       names.

       The readlink_by_handle() function returns the contents of a
       symbolic link referenced by a handle.

       The attr_multi_by_handle() function manipulates multiple user
       attributes on a filesystem object.  It is analogous and identical
       to attr_multif(3) except that a handle is specified instead of a
       file descriptor.

       The attr_list_by_handle() function returns the names of the user
       attributes of a filesystem object.  It is analogous and identical
       to attr_listf(3) except that a handle is specified instead of a
       file descriptor.

       The fssetdm_by_handle() function sets the di_dmevmask and
       di_dmstate fields in an XFS on-disk inode. It is analogous to the
       XFS_IOC_FSSETDM xfsctl(3) command, except that a handle is
       specified instead of a file.  This function is not supported on
       Linux.

       The free_handle() function frees the storage allocated for
       handles returned by the following functions: path_to_handle(),
       path_to_fshandle(), fd_to_handle(), and handle_to_fshandle().

       The getparents_by_handle() function returns an array of parent_t
       structures for each hardlink to the inode represented by the
       given handle.  The parent structure encodes the parent inode
       number, generation number and the basename of the link.  This
       function is not operational on Linux.

       The getparentpaths_by_handle() function is identical to the
       getparents_by_handle() function except that instead of returning
       the basename it returns the path of the link up to the mount
       point.  This function is also not operational on Linux.

RETURN VALUE         top

       The function free_handle() has no failure indication. The other
       functions return the value 0 to the calling process if they
       succeed; otherwise, they return the value -1 and set errno to
       indicate the error.

ERRORS         top

       EACCES Search permission was denied for a component of path.

       EBADF  fd is not a valid and open file descriptor.

       EFAULT An argument pointed to an invalid address.

       EINVAL path is in a filesystem that does not support these
              functions.

       ELOOP  Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating
              the path name.

       ENAMETOOLONG
              A component of path or the entire length of path exceeds
              filesystem limits.

       ENOENT A component of path does not exist.

       EPERM  The caller does not have sufficient privileges.

SEE ALSO         top

       open(2), readlink(2), attr_multi(3), attr_list(3), xfsctl(3),
       xfs(5).

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the xfsprogs (utilities for XFS filesystems)
       project.  Information about the project can be found at 
       ⟨http://xfs.org/⟩.  If you have a bug report for this manual page,
       send it to linux-xfs@vger.kernel.org.  This page was obtained
       from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/fs/xfs/xfsprogs-dev.git⟩ on
       2024-06-14.  (At that time, the date of the most recent commit
       that was found in the repository was 2024-05-17.)  If you
       discover any rendering problems in this HTML version of the page,
       or you believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for
       the page, or you have corrections or improvements to the
       information in this COLOPHON (which is not part of the original
       manual page), send a mail to man-pages@man7.org

                                                               HANDLE(3)

Pages that refer to this page: xfsctl(3)xfs(5)