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28 .\" @(#)chflags.2 8.3 (Berkeley) 5/2/95
31 .Dd September 23, 2020
46 .Fn chflags "const char *path" "unsigned long flags"
48 .Fn lchflags "const char *path" "unsigned long flags"
50 .Fn fchflags "int fd" "unsigned long flags"
52 .Fn chflagsat "int fd" "const char *path" "unsigned long flags" "int atflag"
57 or referenced by the descriptor
59 has its flags changed to
66 except in the case where the named file is a symbolic link,
69 will change the flags of the link itself,
70 rather than the file it points to.
74 is equivalent to either
80 except in the case where
82 specifies a relative path.
83 In this case the file to be changed is determined relative to the directory
84 associated with the file descriptor
86 instead of the current working directory.
89 are constructed by a bitwise-inclusive OR of flags from the following list,
92 .Bl -tag -width indent
93 .It Dv AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW
96 names a symbolic link, then the flags of the symbolic link are changed.
98 Only allow to change flags for a file which is beneath of
99 the topping directory.
100 See the description of the
105 .It Dv AT_RESOLVE_BENEATH
106 Only walks paths below the topping directory.
107 See the description of the
108 .Dv O_RESOLVE_BENEATH
116 is passed the special value
120 parameter, the current working directory is used.
123 is zero, the behavior is identical to a call to
126 The flags specified are formed by
130 .Bl -tag -width ".Dv SF_IMMUTABLE" -compact -offset indent
132 The file may only be appended to.
134 The file has been archived.
135 This flag means the opposite of the DOS, Windows and CIFS
136 FILE_ATTRIBUTE_ARCHIVE attribute.
137 This flag has been deprecated, and may be removed in a future release.
139 The file may not be changed.
141 The file may not be renamed or deleted.
143 The file is a snapshot file.
145 The file may only be appended to.
147 The file needs to be archived.
148 This flag has the same meaning as the DOS, Windows and CIFS
149 FILE_ATTRIBUTE_ARCHIVE attribute.
150 Filesystems in FreeBSD may or may not have special handling for this flag.
151 For instance, ZFS tracks changes to files and will set this bit when a
153 UFS only stores the flag, and relies on the application to change it when
156 The file may be hidden from directory listings at the application's
158 The file has the DOS, Windows and CIFS FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN attribute.
160 The file may not be changed.
162 Do not dump the file.
164 The file may not be renamed or deleted.
166 The file is offline, or has the Windows and CIFS FILE_ATTRIBUTE_OFFLINE
168 Filesystems in FreeBSD store and display this flag, but do not provide any
169 special handling when it is set.
171 The directory is opaque when viewed through a union stack.
173 The file is read only, and may not be written or appended.
174 Filesystems may use this flag to maintain compatibility with the DOS, Windows
175 and CIFS FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLY attribute.
177 The file contains a Windows reparse point and has the Windows and CIFS
178 FILE_ATTRIBUTE_REPARSE_POINT attribute.
180 The file has the Windows FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SPARSE_FILE attribute.
181 This may also be used by a filesystem to indicate a sparse file.
183 The file has the DOS, Windows and CIFS FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SYSTEM attribute.
184 Filesystems in FreeBSD may store and display this flag, but do not provide
185 any special handling when it is set.
189 .Dv SF_IMMUTABLE , SF_APPEND ,
192 is set a non-super-user cannot change any flags and even the super-user
193 can change flags only if securelevel is 0.
199 .Dv UF_IMMUTABLE , UF_APPEND , UF_NOUNLINK , UF_NODUMP ,
202 flags may be set or unset by either the owner of a file or the super-user.
205 .Dv SF_IMMUTABLE , SF_APPEND , SF_NOUNLINK ,
208 flags may only be set or unset by the super-user.
209 Attempts to toggle these flags by non-super-users are rejected.
210 These flags may be set at any time, but normally may only be unset when
211 the system is in single-user mode.
216 The implementation of all flags is filesystem-dependent.
217 See the description of the
219 flag above for one example of the differences in behavior.
220 Care should be exercised when writing applications to account for
221 support or lack of support of these flags in various filesystems.
225 flag is maintained by the system and cannot be toggled.
231 system call will fail if:
234 A component of the path prefix is not a directory.
235 .It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
236 A component of a pathname exceeded 255 characters,
237 or an entire path name exceeded 1023 characters.
239 The named file does not exist.
241 Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix.
243 Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname.
245 The effective user ID does not match the owner of the file and
246 the effective user ID is not the super-user.
249 .Dv SF_IMMUTABLE , SF_APPEND ,
252 is set and the user is either not the super-user or
253 securelevel is greater than 0.
255 A non-super-user attempted to toggle one of
256 .Dv SF_ARCHIVED , SF_IMMUTABLE , SF_APPEND ,
260 An attempt was made to toggle the
264 The named file resides on a read-only file system.
269 points outside the process's allocated address space.
273 error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.
275 Corrupted data was detected while reading from the file system.
277 The underlying file system does not support file flags, or
278 does not support all of the flags set in
284 system call will fail if:
287 The descriptor is not valid.
292 refers to a socket, not to a file.
294 The effective user ID does not match the owner of the file and
295 the effective user ID is not the super-user.
298 .Dv SF_IMMUTABLE , SF_APPEND ,
301 is set and the user is either not the super-user or
302 securelevel is greater than 0.
304 A non-super-user attempted to toggle one of
305 .Dv SF_ARCHIVED , SF_IMMUTABLE , SF_APPEND ,
309 An attempt was made to toggle the
313 The file resides on a read-only file system.
317 error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.
319 Corrupted data was detected while reading from the file system.
321 The underlying file system does not support file flags, or
322 does not support all of the flags set in
324 .It Bq Er ENOTCAPABLE
327 or contained a ".." component leading to a
328 directory outside of the directory hierarchy specified by
330 and the process is in capability mode.
331 .It Bq Er ENOTCAPABLE
338 does not have its tail fully contained under the topping directory,
354 system calls first appeared in
358 system call first appeared in
362 system call first appeared in