sysfs_change_owner(9)

💅 sysfs_change_owner — the kernel API manual, but make it cute

okay bestie, welcome to the Kernel API Manual ✨ this one's a little function with big main-character energy: sysfs_change_owner. It literally changes who owns stuff. slay.

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✨ NAME ✨

sysfs_change_owner — change owner of the given object 💖

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

int sysfs_change_owner (struct kobject *kobj , kuid_t kuid , kgid_t kgid );

that's the whole signature, no cap. three args, one int back. 🫶

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• kobj — object. yeah. that's it. the object. the main character of this whole page 👑
• kuid — new owner's kuid 💜
• kgid — new owner's kgid 💜

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So here's the vibe: sysfs_change_owner changes the owner of the default directory, files, groups, and attributes of kobj to kuid/kgid. iconic behaviour, honestly.

and like, the way it does this is mirroring how the sysfs entries for a kobject get added by driver core. in summary (and I'm quoting the vibe here, not adding anything), sysfs_change_owner takes care of:

• the default directory entry for kobj
• the default attributes associated with the ktype of kobj
• the default attributes associated with the ktype of kobj — and yes bestie, it's listed twice in the source, so we're listing it twice. we don't gatekeep, we don't edit. ✨

ngl though, this is the important part: additional properties not added by driver core have to be changed by the driver or subsystem which created them. so if you made it yourself, you're changing it yourself. periodt. 💅

and this whole thing is similar to how driver/subsystem specific entries are removed — same energy, matching set. 🧚

🍓 Returns 0 on success or error code on failure. no in-between, no "sort of worked", it's 0 or it's a whole error code, that's the deal.

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

go off, related functions — kernel file ./fs/sysfs/file.c and the whole friend group:

• sysfs_create_file_ns(9)
• sysfs_add_file_to_group(9)
• sysfs_chmod_file(9)
• sysfs_break_active_protection(9)
• sysfs_unbreak_active_protection(9)
• sysfs_remove_file_ns(9)
• sysfs_remove_file_self(9)
• sysfs_remove_file_from_group(9)
• sysfs_create_bin_file(9)
• sysfs_remove_bin_file(9)
• sysfs_link_change_owner(9)
• sysfs_file_change_owner(9)
• sysfs_emit(9)
• sysfs_emit_at(9)
• sysfs_bin_attr_simple_read(9)

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okay that's the whole page, you ate it up 💖 mwah. this little icon was served up from ./fs/sysfs, dated October 2026 — remember her 🎀✨🌷