Re: [PATCH v3] man: document that XFS_IOC_FS[G|S]ETXATTR can not be used on special files

[Alejandro Colomar <alx@kernel.org>]

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> Date: 2026-09-15 12:39:18+0200
> From: Andrey Albershteyn <aalbersh@kernel.org>
>
> Add a CAVEATS section with an note that these ioctls can not be used on
> special files and leave a reference to an alternative pathname based
> syscall interface.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Andrey Albershteyn <aalbersh@kernel.org>
> Reviewed-by: Alejandro Colomar <alx@kernel.org>

LGTM.  Thanks!


Cheers,
Alex

> 
> ---
> Changes from v2:
> - FIFO on a new line
> Changes from v1:
> - Use semantic newlines
> - pathname-based
> - RvB
> ---
>  man/man2/ioctl_xfs_fsgetxattr.2 | 24 +++++++++++++++++++++++-
>  1 file changed, 23 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> diff --git a/man/man2/ioctl_xfs_fsgetxattr.2 b/man/man2/ioctl_xfs_fsgetxattr.2
> index 25a9ba7965d1..9a1983ca1756 100644
> --- a/man/man2/ioctl_xfs_fsgetxattr.2
> +++ b/man/man2/ioctl_xfs_fsgetxattr.2
> @@ -238,6 +238,28 @@ Caller did not have permission to change the attributes.
>  This API is implemented by the ext4, xfs, btrfs, and f2fs filesystems on the
>  Linux kernel.
>  Not all fields may be understood by filesystems other than xfs.
> +.SH CAVEATS
> +The
> +.B XFS_IOC_FSGETXATTR
> +and
> +.B XFS_IOC_FSSETXATTR
> +.BR ioctl (2)
> +operations require the user to open the file,
> +but this may not be possible or
> +lead to side effects on special files such as
> +FIFOs,
> +sockets,
> +block devices,
> +character devices,
> +and symlinks.
> +.P
> +For a pathname-based interface see the
> +.BR file_getattr (2)
> +and
> +.BR file_setattr (2)
> +syscalls.
>  .SH SEE ALSO
>  .BR ioctl (2),
> -.BR ioctl_iflags (2)
> +.BR ioctl_iflags (2),
> +.BR file_getattr (2),
> +.BR file_setattr (2)
> -- 
> 2.55.0
> 

-- 
<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es>

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