PR_GET_KEEPCAPS(2const)

💖 PR_GET_KEEPCAPS 💖

okay bestie, so this is a <pink>2const</pink> man page — it's not a whole function, it's one lil' constant you can yeet at prctl(2). And honestly? It's giving "quick check-in with the kernel" energy. ✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

PR_GET_KEEPCAPS — get the state of the "keep capabilities" flag 👑

🎀 LIBRARY 🎀

Standard C library (libc, -lc) 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <linux/prctl.h>  /* Definition of PR_* constants */
#include <sys/prctl.h>

int prctl(PR_GET_KEEPCAPS);

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

So basically, this call returns the current state of the calling thread's "keep capabilities" flag. That's it. That's the whole vibe. 🦋

If you wanna know what this flag actually means — like, why anyone would keep capabilities around — go read capabilities(7), bestie, it explains the whole thing. This page is just the little getter. 😌

⭐ RETURN VALUE ⭐

On success, this call returns the boolean value described above (the state of the flag, slay). 💖

On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error. so like, always check. it's giving "not me ignoring the return value" 💀

👑 STANDARDS 👑

Linux. lowkey iconic, highkey expected. 🐧

🕰️ HISTORY 🕰️

Linux 2.2.18. ancient. vintage. a true elder of the kernel. 🌈

🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

• signal(2)
• PR_SET_KEEPCAPS(2const)

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fr fr, if you're setting this flag you're probably also reading PR_SET_KEEPCAPS(2const) — they're a matching set, iykyk 💅

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okay that's the whole page, no cap — but credit where it's due: this was written up in the Linux man-pages 6.20 collection, dated 2026-02-08. go off, man-pages maintainers. 🎀✨