What happens when the command getfattr afile is run while the file afile has no extended attributes set?

Question

Options

• Agetfattr prints a warning and exits with a values of 0.
• Bgetfattr prints a warning and exits with a value of 1.
• CNo output is produced and getfattr exits with a value of 0.
• DNo outputs is produced and getfattr exits with a value of 1.

• A
  2% (1)
• B
  2% (1)
• C
  88% (45)
• D
  8% (4)

Explanation

When getfattr runs on a file with no extended attributes, it finds nothing to report - and since that is a valid, non-error state, it simply exits silently with code 0 (success). The tool treats "no attributes" as an expected outcome, not a problem worth warning about.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A & B are wrong because getfattr does not print a warning when attributes are merely absent - warnings are reserved for actual errors (e.g., file not found, permission denied).
• D is wrong because exit code 1 signals failure; a missing attribute set is not a failure, so the exit code remains 0.

Memory tip: Think of getfattr like ls on an empty directory - it runs cleanly and quietly with exit code 0, because "nothing here" is a perfectly valid answer, not an error.

No community discussion yet for this question.