FS_SETCELL(1)

💖 FS_SETCELL(1) 💖

AFS Command Reference ✨ this is the fs setcell page bestie, welcome to the group chat 🫶

---

✨ NAME ✨

fs_setcell — configures permissions for setuid programs from specified cells 🎀

---

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

fs setcell -cell <cell name>+ [-suid] [-nosuid] [-help]

fs setce -c <cell name>+ [-s] [-n] [-h]

---

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so. fs setcell is the one that decides whether the Cache Manager lets programs (and other executable files, yes those too) from each cell you name with the -cell argument run with setuid permission. 👑

Here's the default tea ☕: the Cache Manager lets programs from its home cell run with setuid permission, but programs from any foreign cells? nope, absolutely not. 🙅‍♀️

And what even counts as a program's cell? A program belongs to the same cell as the file server machine that houses the volume where the program's binary file lives — as specified in that file server machine's /etc/openafs/server/ThisCell file. Meanwhile the Cache Manager figures out its own home cell by reading /etc/openafs/ThisCell at initialization. two different files, yes, keep up bestie 💅

• want programs from each cell you specified to run with setuid permission? include the -suid flag ✅
• want to prohibit programs from running with setuid permission? include the -nosuid flag, or just omit both flags 🚫

The way that fs setcell is lowkey iconic: it directly alters a cell's setuid status as recorded in kernel memory, so you do not need to reboot the machine. slay. ✨

but bestie… 😭 non-default settings do not persist across reboots of the machine unless the appropriate fs setcell command appears in the machine's AFS initialization file. put it in the file. do it. 🫶

And if you wanna just look at a cell's setuid status? run the fs getcellstatus command. 👀

---

💀 CAUTIONS 💀 (read these fr fr)

AFS does not recognize effective UID: if a setuid program accesses AFS files and directories, it does so using the current AFS identity of the AFS user who initialized the program — not the identity of the program's owner. Only the local file system recognizes effective UID. the way that's a whole different vibe 🙈

Only members of the system:administrators group can turn on the setuid mode bit on an AFS file or directory. 🔐

When the setuid mode bit is turned on, the UNIX ls -l command displays the third user mode bit as an s instead of an x. however — and this is the plot twist 🎭 — the s does not appear on an AFS file or directory unless setuid permission is enabled for the cell in which the file resides.

---

🌈 OPTIONS 🌈

• -cell <cell name>+ — names each cell for which to set setuid status. give it the fully qualified domain name, or a shortened form that disambiguates it from the other cells listed in the local /etc/openafs/CellServDB file. 🎯
• -suid — allows programs from each specified cell to run with setuid privilege. provide it or the -nosuid flag, or omit both flags to disallow programs from running with setuid privilege. ✨
• -nosuid — prevents programs from each specified cell from running with setuid privilege. provide it or the -suid flag, or omit both flags to disallow programs from running with setuid privilege. 🚫
• -help — prints the online help for this command. all other valid options are ignored. — every single other one, ignored, no notes 😌

---

🍓 EXAMPLES 🍓

The following command enables executable files from the Example Organization cell to run with setuid privilege on the local machine:

% fs setcell -cell example.org -suid

and that's the whole recipe bestie. ate. 💅

---

👑 PRIVILEGE REQUIRED 👑

The issuer must be logged in as the local superuser root. that's it that's the requirement, no shortcuts, main character energy only 🧚

---

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

fs_getcellstatus(1) — your bestie, your partner in crime, go read it 🫶

---

🎀 COPYRIGHT 🎀

IBM Corporation 2000. <http://www.ibm.com/> All Rights Reserved.

This documentation is covered by the IBM Public License Version 1.0. It was converted from HTML to POD by software written by Chas Williams and Russ Allbery, based on work by Alf Wachsmann and Elizabeth Cassell. 🌸

---

and that's the page!! this was OpenAFS, dated 2026-07-27, page FS_SETCELL(1) — mwah, take care of your setuid bits bestie 💖✨🎀🦋