mfseattr(1)

💖 NAME 💖

mfseattr — MooseFS extra attributes management tools. Basically a whole lil squad of besties whose entire job is getting, setting, deleting and copying those extra flags on your MooseFS objects, and honestly? iconic behavior. 🎀

---

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

mfsgeteattr [-?] [-r] [-n|-h|-H|-k|-m|-g] OBJECT...

mfsseteattr [-?] [-r] [-n|-h|-H|-k|-m|-g] -f ATTRNAME [-f ATTRNAME ...]
OBJECT...

mfsdeleattr [-?] [-r] [-n|-h|-H|-k|-m|-g] -a | -f ATTRNAME [-f ATTRNAME
...] OBJECT...

mfscopyeattr [-?] [-r] [-n|-h|-H|-k|-m|-g] SOURCE_OBJECT OBJECT...

---

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so. These tools are for getting, setting or deleting some extra attributes (flags). They're like the accessories of your filesystem objects — not required, but they change the whole fit. 💅

• mfsgeteattr — shows you the extra attributes of whatever object you point it at. Add -r and it will also display statistics for how all the attributes are being used across the whole directory tree you named in OBJECT. Receipts, bestie. 🧾
• mfsseteattr — sets the attribute you name with -f. And because one is never enough, -f can be used more than once, so you can set several attributes with a single command. Add -r and those specified attributes get set recursively. ✨
• mfsdeleattr — deletes (clears) the attribute you name with -f. Also repeatable — -f more than once means several attributes get deleted in one command. Or you can flex the -a option instead to delete all existing extra attributes at once. Add -r and the specified attributes get deleted recursively. 🫶
• mfscopyeattr — copies the current set of attributes from SOURCE_OBJECT onto OBJECT. Heads up: this is an exact copy, so any attributes that OBJECT has but SOURCE_OBJECT does not will be cleared. No leftovers, no crumbs. Add -r and attributes get copied recursively. 👑

---

🦋 OPTIONS 🦋

🌈 ATTRIBUTES

• noowner — this flag means that the particular object belongs to the current user (uid and gid are equal to the uid and gid values of the accessing process). Only root (uid=0) sees the real uid and gid. ✨
• noattrcache — this flag means standard file attributes like uid, gid, mode, length and so on won't be stored in kernel cache.
• noentrycache — similar vibe to the one above. It stops directory entries from being cached in the kernel.
• nodatacache — this flag means data should never be kept in kernel cache (similar to the O_DIRECT open flag).
• snapshot — this flag means the object was created via a mfsmakesnapshot command. 📸
• undeletable — this flag prevents unlinking (admin only; not inherited). 🚫
• appendonly — an object with this flag can only be appended to; unlinking and other modifications are not allowed (admin only; not inherited).
• immutable — this flag prevents any change to the given object (admin only; not inherited). It's giving frozen. 🧊

💜 GENERAL OPTIONS

Most MooseFS tools use -n, -h, -H, -k, -m and -g options to pick the format of printed numbers, and this squad is no different:

• -n — prints exact numbers.
• -h — uses binary prefixes (Ki, Mi, Gi as 2^10, 2^20 etc.).
• -H — uses SI prefixes (k, M, G as 10^3, 10^6 etc.).
• -k — shows plain numbers in kibis (binary kilo — 1024).
• -m — shows plain numbers in mebis (binary mega — 1024^2).
• -g — shows plain numbers in gibis (binary giga — 1024^3).

You can get the exact same outcome by setting the MFSHRFORMAT environment variable to:

• 0 — exact numbers
• 1 or h — binary prefixes
• 2 or H — SI prefixes
• 3 or h+ — exact numbers and binary prefixes
• 4 or H+ — exact numbers and SI prefixes

The default is to print just exact numbers. ✨

• -? — displays a short usage message.

---

🎀 NOTES 🎀

🧚 INHERITANCE

When a new object is created in MooseFS, extra attributes are inherited from the parent directory. A newly created object always inherits the current set of its parent's attributes. Changing a directory attribute does not affect its already created children. So if you wanna change an attribute for a directory AND all of its children, you gotta use the -r option. No cap. 💖

---

😭 REPORTING BUGS 😭

Found a bug? Report bugs to <bugs@moosefs.com>. Bestie will handle it. 🫶

---

👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright (C) 2026 Jakub Kruszona-Zawadzki, Saglabs SA

This file is part of MooseFS.

MooseFS is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, version 2 (only).

MooseFS is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

---

🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

mfsmount(8), mfstools(1), mfssnapshots(1)

---

and that's the whole page, bestie — this was MooseFS 4.59.2-1, dropped in May 2026. go forth and flag responsibly 💖✨