KEYCTL_SET_REQKEY_KEYRING(2const)

💅 KEYCTL_SET_REQKEY_KEYRING 💅

okay bestie, so this one lives in section 2const of the Linux manual pages — it's a keyctl(2) operation constant, and it's literally the "where do my spontaneous keys go" knob. no cap.

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✨ NAME ✨

KEYCTL_SET_REQKEY_KEYRING — set the implicit destination keyring 🎀

📚 LIBRARY 📚

Standard C library (libc, -lc)

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

#include <linux/keyctl.h>  /* Definition of KEY* constants */
#include <sys/syscall.h>   /* Definition of SYS_* constants */
#include <unistd.h>

long syscall(SYS_keyctl, KEYCTL_SET_REQKEY_KEYRING, int op);

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So what this does is: it sets the default keyring that implicitly requested keys get linked into, for this thread, and then it hands you back the previous setting like a little receipt. 🧾✨

"Implicit key requests" are the ones made by internal kernel components — think of stuff like when you open files on an AFS or NFS filesystem. that's the kernel asking for a key on your behalf without you even asking, iykyk. also, setting the default keyring has an effect when a key is requested from user space too; go peek at request_key(2) for the deets.

The op argument should hold one of these values, which is how you say what the new default keyring is:

• KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_NO_CHANGE — don't touch the default keyring at all. this is the "just tell me what it is rn" move — lets you discover the current default keyring without changing anything. 👀
• KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_DEFAULT — this picks the default behavior, and the fallback chain is iconic honestly: use the thread-specific keyring if there is one, otherwise the process-specific keyring if there is one, otherwise the session keyring if there is one, otherwise the UID-specific session keyring, otherwise the user-specific keyring. it just keeps going down the list. 💫
• KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_THREAD_KEYRING — use the thread-specific keyring (thread-keyring(7)) as the new default keyring.
• KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_PROCESS_KEYRING — use the process-specific keyring (process-keyring(7)) as the new default keyring.
• KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_SESSION_KEYRING — use the session-specific keyring (session-keyring(7)) as the new default keyring.
• KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_USER_KEYRING — use the UID-specific keyring (user-keyring(7)) as the new default keyring.
• KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_USER_SESSION_KEYRING — use the UID-specific session keyring (user-session-keyring(7)) as the new default keyring.
• KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_REQUESTOR_KEYRING (since Linux 2.6.29) — use the requestor keyring.

heads up bestie: All other values are invalid. like, not "eh maybe", actually invalid. don't try it. 💀

and the setting this operation controls? it gets inherited by the child of fork(2) and it's preserved across execve(2). so it follows you around. main character energy fr fr.

🫶 RETURN VALUE 🫶

On success, you get the ID of the previous default keyring that implicitly requested keys were linked to — one of KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_USER_*. 🎉

On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error. 😭

⭐ VERSIONS ⭐

There's a wrapper for this in the libkeyutils library: keyctl_set_reqkey_keyring(3)

👑 STANDARDS 👑

Linux. periodt.

🌈 HISTORY 🌈

Linux 2.6.13. a classic. 💖

🦄 SEE ALSO 🦄

• keyctl(2)
• keyctl_set_reqkey_keyring(3)

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okay that's the whole thing bestie, go set some keyrings, slay 💅✨

Linux man-pages 6.20 — 2026-02-08 🎀 that's the version and the date, mwah, bye 🫶