ecryptfs_write_metadata(9)

💅 ecryptfs_write_metadata ✨

okay bestie, welcome to the Kernel API Manual, section 9 — this one's a kernel-space girlie, no shell commands in sight, but she's still iconic, iykyk 🎀

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🌸 NAME 🌸

ecryptfs_write_metadata —

and yes, the description field is literally empty in the original, no cap. That's not me being lazy, that's just... the vibe. 💀 The name is the whole personality here.

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

int ecryptfs_write_metadata (struct dentry *ecryptfs_dentry , struct
inode *ecryptfs_inode );

she takes two pointers and hands you back an int, periodt 🔥

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💖 ARGUMENTS 💖

• ecryptfs_dentry — the eCryptfs dentry, and heads up: it should be negative. Yes bestie, negative dentry is a real thing, it's not a sad dentry, it's a technical one 🫶
• ecryptfs_inode — the freshly-created eCryptfs inode, brand new, main character energy ✨

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👑 DESCRIPTION 👑

so what does she actually do? she writes the file headers out. that's the whole assignment 💅

but here's the tea: this will likely involve a userspace callout 😭 — meaning the session key gets encrypted with one or more public keys, and/or the passphrase you need to do the encryption gets retrieved via a prompt. like, a real live prompt. the kernel is knocking on userspace's door and asking politely.

and the exact details of what happens at this point? should be policy-dependent. so don't @ me for specifics, it's a policy girlie 🌈

Returns zero on success; non-zero on error — classic, clean, no notes 🍓

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🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

okay this list is long and honestly kind of iconic, all of these live in the kernel file ./fs/ecryptfs/crypto.c, and every single one of them is a section (9) bestie:

• ecryptfs_from_hex(9)
• ecryptfs_derive_iv(9)
• ecryptfs_init_crypt_stat(9)
• ecryptfs_destroy_crypt_stat(9)
• virt_to_scatterlist(9)
• crypt_scatterlist(9)
• crypt_extent(9)
• ecryptfs_encrypt_page(9)
• ecryptfs_decrypt_page(9)
• ecryptfs_init_crypt_ctx(9)
• ecryptfs_copy_mount_wide_flags_to_inode_flags(9)
• ecryptfs_set_default_crypt_stat_vals(9)
• ecryptfs_new_file_context(9)
• ecryptfs_validate_marker(9)
• ecryptfs_process_flags(9)
• write_ecryptfs_marker(9)
• ecryptfs_code_for_cipher_string(9)
• ecryptfs_cipher_code_to_string(9)
• ecryptfs_write_headers_virt(9)
• set_default_header_data(9)
• ecryptfs_read_headers_virt(9)
• ecryptfs_read_xattr_region(9)
• ecryptfs_process_key_cipher(9)
• ecryptfs_destroy_crypto(9)
• ecryptfs_tfm_exists(9)
• ecryptfs_get_tfm_and_mutex_for_cipher_name(9)
• ecryptfs_encode_for_filename(9)
• ecryptfs_decode_from_filename(9)
• ecryptfs_encrypt_and_encode_filename(9)
• ecryptfs_decode_and_decrypt_filename(9)

go read them all, bestie, that's your homework 📚💜

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heads up 🫶 — the whole "userspace callout / prompt for passphrase" thing means this isn't some quiet little in-kernel bookkeeping moment. keep that in mind, fr fr.

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okay that's the page!! mwah 💋 this one came from the kernel file ./fs/ecryptfs, dated October 2026, and she's filed as ecryptfs_write_metadata(9) — slay, go write some headers 🌸🧚‍♀️💖