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,    getpar‐
       ents_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.
       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, see
       ⟨http://oss.sgi.com/bugzilla/buglist.cgi?product=XFS⟩.  This page was
       obtained from the project's upstream Git repository 
       ⟨git://oss.sgi.com/xfs/cmds/xfsprogs⟩ on 2017-07-05.  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)