FS_BYPASSTHRESHOLD(1)

💖 fs_bypassthreshold — the glow-up era of your AFS cache 🌸

okay bestie, so this is a page from the AFS Command Reference manual (that's the fs_bypassthreshold(1) girlies — section 1, we love a section 1). sit down, grab a strawberry drink, and let's talk about the Cache Bypass file size threshold. it's giving "niche but iconic". 💅

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✨ NAME ✨

fs_bypassthreshold — get/set that Cache Bypass file size threshold, periodt.

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🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

fs bypassthreshold [-size <file size>] [-help]

fs bypassthresh [-s <file size>] [-h]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so the fs bypassthreshold command does one of two things: it changes the AFS client's Cache Bypass file size threshold, or it just reports your current threshold. pick a lane, queen. 💅

here's the tea on how it normally works: when an app tries to read data through the OpenAFS client, the client fetches what's needed from the fileserver, stashes the results in the local cache, and then serves the app's request straight out of that local cache. cozy. very main character of it.

BUT — and this is the plot twist — when the Cache Bypass feature is enabled, certain files get read directly from the network and the data is not saved to the local cache. no caching, no notes. and in some scenarios, this can be a significant performance improvement — especially if the data is only ever read once. one-time-read files?? they don't need a cache era. 🫶

rn, the only way to specify which files bypass the cache and which ones don't is by file size. in the future, different mechanisms might exist for picking who bypasses the local cache and who doesn't. but that's a future problem, bestie. 🌈

oh and if -size is not specified, fs bypassthreshold just reports the current threshold and exits. no drama, no changes, just receipts. ✨

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😭 CAUTIONS 😭

Cache Bypass is still considered an experimental feature. Even in stable releases of OpenAFS, it is not considered as stable as the rest of OpenAFS. so like… she's experimenting, okay? be gentle. treat her accordingly. 🙈

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👑 OPTIONS 👑

• -size <file size> — tells you how large a file has to be before Cache Bypass mode kicks in. if a file is larger than the specified file size (in bytes), then reading from that file will bypass the local cache and get read directly from the network instead. vibe check: big file = no cache. a file size of -1 means Cache Bypass should be disabled complete — like, no files will enable Cache Bypass mode, no matter how huge they are. so -1 is the off switch, fr fr.

by default, Cache Bypass is disabled. (yes, she starts turned off. she's lowkey shy. 🎀)

• -help — prints the online help for this command. and listen, all other valid options are ignored when you do this — so don't bother stacking them, she's not listening. 🙈

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💀 OUTPUT 💀

the output format is identical whether or not -size was specified. 👀

• if -size was specified, the bypass threshold gets changed, and the output shows you the new, changed threshold.
• otherwise, the output shows you the current threshold.

same format, different girl. slay.

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🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

turning ON Cache Bypass with a threshold of 4KiB:

% fs bypassthreshold 4096
Cache bypass threshold 4096

disabling Cache Bypass:

% fs bypassthreshold -1
Cache bypass threshold -1 (disabled)

peeking at the current Cache Bypass threshold:

% fs bypassthreshold
Cache bypass threshold 4096

see how she ate that? three commands, three flawless looks. 👑

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🔐 PRIVILEGE REQUIRED 🔐

to set the bypass threshold, whoever's issuing the command must be logged in as the local superuser "root". otherwise? no privilege is required. so reading is free, changing costs you the root password. iykyk. ✨

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📜 COPYRIGHT 📜

Copyright 2012 Sine Nomine Associates

This documentation is covered by the BSD License as written in the doc/LICENSE file. This man page was written by Andrew Deason for OpenAFS.

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okay bestie, that's the whole page. no cap, every flag, every number, every warning — all of it, preserved like a scrapbook page. 🎀

this has been OpenAFS, dated 2026-07-27, bringing you FS_BYPASSTHRESHOLD(1) from the AFS Command Reference. go forth and bypass responsibly, queen. 💜🦋🌸