man/man2/clonefile.2

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.\"     @(#)clonefile.2
.
.Dd June 3, 2021
.Dt CLONEFILE 2
.Os Darwin
.Sh NAME
.Nm clonefile
.Nd create copy on write clones of files
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Fd #include <sys/attr.h>
.Fd #include <sys/clonefile.h>
.Pp
.Ft int
.Fn clonefile  "const char * src" "const char * dst" "int flags"
.
.Fn clonefileat  "int src_dirfd" "const char * src" "int dst_dirfd" "const char * dst" "int flags"
.
.Fn fclonefileat "int srcfd" "int dst_dirfd" "const char * dst" "int flags"
.
.Sh LIMITATIONS
Cloning directories with these functions is strongly discouraged.  Use
.Xr copyfile 3
to clone directories instead.
.
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Fn clonefile
function causes the named file
.Fa src
to be cloned to the named file
.Fa dst .
The cloned file
.Fa dst
shares its data blocks with the
.Fa src
file but has its own copy of attributes and extended attributes which are identical to
those of the named file
.Fa src
with the exceptions listed below:
.Pp
.
.Bl -enum
.
.It
ownership information is set as it would be if
.Fa dst
was created by
.Xr openat 2
or
.Xr mkdirat 2
or
.Xr symlinkat 2
if the current user does not have privileges to change ownership. If the optional
flag CLONE_NOOWNERCOPY is passed, the ownership information is the same as if the
the current user does not have privileges to change ownership.
.
.It
setuid and setgid bits are turned off in the mode bits for regular files.
.It
inherit target directory's access control lists. If the optional flag CLONE_ACL is passed, it will additionally
copy the ACLs from the source file and also apply the inherited ACLs from the target directory.
.El
.Pp
Subsequent writes to either the original or cloned file are private to the file being modified (copy-on-write).
The named file
.Fa dst
must not exist for the call to be successful. Since the clonefile() system call might not
allocate new storage for data blocks, it is possible for a subsequent overwrite of an existing data block to
return ENOSPC.  If
.Fa src
names a directory, the directory hierarchy is cloned as if each item was cloned individually.  However, the use of
.Xr clonefile 2
to clone directory hierarchies is strongly discouraged.  Use
.Xr copyfile 3
instead for copying directories.
.Pp
The
.Fn clonefileat
function is equivalent to
.Fn clonefile
except in the case where either
.Fa src
or
.Fa dst
specifies a relative path. If src is a relative path, the file to be cloned is located relative to the directory associated
with the file descriptor
.Fa src_dirfd
instead of the current working directory. If
.Fa dst
is a relative path, the same happens only relative to the directory associated with
.Fa dst_dirfd .
If
.Fn clonefileat
is passed the special value
.Dv AT_FDCWD
in either the
.Fa src_dirfd
or
.Fa dst_dirfd
parameters, the current working directory is used in the determination of the file for
the respective path parameter.
.Pp
The
.Fn fclonefileat
function is similar to
.Fn clonefileat
except that the source is identified by file descriptor
.Fa srcfd
rather than a path (as in
.Fn clonefile
or
.Fn clonefileat
).
.Pp
The
.Fa flags
parameter specifies the options that can be passed. Options are specified in the
.Fa flags
argument by or'ing the following values:
.
.Bl -tag -width CLONE_NOFOLLOW
.
.It CLONE_NOFOLLOW
Don't follow the src file if it is a symbolic link (applicable only if the source is not a directory).
The symbolic link is itself cloned if
.Fa src
names a symbolic link.
.
.El
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width CLONE_NOOWNERCOPY
.
.It CLONE_NOOWNERCOPY
Don't copy ownership information from the source when run called with superuser privileges.
The symbolic link is itself cloned if
.Fa src
names a symbolic link.
.
.El
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width CLONE_ACL
.
.It CLONE_ACL
Copy ACLs from the source file.
.El
.Pp
The
.Fn clonefile ,
.Fn clonefileat
and
.Fn fclonefileat
functions are expected to be atomic i.e. the system call will result all new objects being created
successfully or no new objects will be created. POSIX conforming applications cannot use
.Fn clonefile .
.
.Sh RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion,
.Fn clonefile
returns 0. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.
.Pp
.Sh COMPATIBILITY
Not all volumes support
.Fn clonefile .
A volume can be tested for
.Fn clonefile
support by using
.Xr getattrlist 2
to get the volume capabilities attribute ATTR_VOL_CAPABILITIES, and then testing the VOL_CAP_INT_CLONE flag.
.Pp
.Sh ERRORS
The
.Fn clonefile
function will fail if:
.Bl -tag -width Er
.
.It Bq Er EACCES
Read permissions are denied on the source or write permissions are on the destination parent.
.
.It Bq Er ENOTSUP
The underlying filesystem does not support this call.
.
.It Bq Er EEXIST
The named file
.Fa dst
exists.
.
.It Bq Er EXDEV
.Fa src
and
.Fa dst
are not on the same filesystem.
.
.It Bq Er EINVAL
The value of the
.Fa flags
parameter is invalid.
.
.It Bq Er ENOSPC
There is no free space remaining on the file system containing the file.
.
.It Bq Er EIO
An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.
.
.It Bq Er EPERM
The calling process does not have appropriate privileges.
.
.It Bq Er EPERM
.Fa src
is the root of the Filesystem.
.
.It Bq Er ELOOP
A loop exists in symbolic links encountered during in resolution
of the
.Fa src
or
.Fa dst
path arguments.
.
.It Bq Er EROFS
The requested operation requires writing in a directory on a read-only file system.
.
.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
The length of a component of a pathname is longer than {NAME_MAX}.
.
.It Bq Er ENOENT
A component of path
.Fa src
or the path
.Fa dst
does not name an existing file or path is an empty string.
.
.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
A component of path prefix of either
.Fa src
or
.Fa dst
names an  existing file that is  neither a directory nor a symbolic link to a directory,
or the path argument contains at least one non <slash> character and ends with one or
more trailing <slash> characters and the last pathname component names an existing file that
is neither a directory nor a symbolic link to a directory.
.
.It Bq Er EDEADLK
A component of either pathname refers to a
.Dq dataless
directory that requires materialization and the I/O policy of the current
thread or process disallows dataless directory materialization
.Po see
.Xr getiopolicy_np 3
.Pc .
.
.It Bq Er EDEADLK
The
.Fa src
pathname refers to a
.Dq dataless
file that must be materialized before being cloned and the I/O policy of
the current thread or process disallows file materialization
.Po see
.Xr getiopolicy_np 3
.Pc .
.El
.Pp
In addition, the
.Fn clonefileat
or
.Fn fclonefileat
functions may fail with the following errors:
.Bl -tag -width Er
.It Bq Er EBADF
The
.Fa src
or
.Fa dst
argument does not specify an absolute path and the
.Fa src_dirfd
or
.Fa dst_dirfd
argument is neither
.Dv AT_FDCWD
nor a valid file descriptor open for searching.
.
.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
The
.Fa src
or
.Fa dst
argument is not an absolute path and
.Fa src_dirfd
or
.Fa dst_dirfd
is neither
.Dv AT_FDCWD
nor a file descriptor associated with a directory.
.
.El
.
.Pp
.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.
.Xr copyfile 3
.Xr chown 2
.
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Fn clonefile ,
.Fn clonefileat
and
.Fn fclonefileat
function calls appeared in OS X version 10.12
.