uutils/coreutils · warning · SmackError::LabelRetrievalFailure

smack-error-no-label-set

Error message

smack-error-no-label-set

What it means

`get_smack_label_for_path` reads the `security.SMACK64` xattr. When SMACK is enabled but the path has no label set (`xattr::get` returns Ok(None)), it wraps a NotFound io::Error with the localized "smack-error-no-label-set" message inside `SmackError::LabelRetrievalFailure`.

Source

Thrown at src/uucore/src/lib/features/smack.rs:89

pub fn set_smack_label_for_self(label: &str) -> Result<(), SmackError> {
    if !is_smack_enabled() {
        return Err(SmackError::SmackNotEnabled);
    }

    fs::File::create("/proc/self/attr/current")
        .and_then(|mut f| f.write_all(label.as_bytes()))
        .map_err(|e| SmackError::LabelSetFailure(label.to_string(), e))
}

/// Gets the SMACK label for a filesystem path via xattr.
pub fn get_smack_label_for_path(path: &Path) -> Result<String, SmackError> {
    if !is_smack_enabled() {
        return Err(SmackError::SmackNotEnabled);
    }

    match xattr::get(path, "security.SMACK64") {
        Ok(Some(value)) => Ok(String::from_utf8_lossy(&value).trim().to_string()),
        Ok(None) => Err(SmackError::LabelRetrievalFailure(io::Error::new(
            io::ErrorKind::NotFound,
            translate!("smack-error-no-label-set"),
        ))),
        Err(e) => Err(SmackError::LabelRetrievalFailure(e)),
    }
}

/// Sets the SMACK label for a filesystem path via xattr.
pub fn set_smack_label_for_path(path: &Path, label: &str) -> Result<(), SmackError> {
    if !is_smack_enabled() {
        return Err(SmackError::SmackNotEnabled);
    }

    xattr::set(path, "security.SMACK64", label.as_bytes())
        .map_err(|e| SmackError::LabelSetFailure(label.to_string(), e))
}

/// Sets SMACK label for a new path, calling cleanup on failure.

View on GitHub (pinned to 325183372a)

Solutions

1. Set a label: `chsmack -a <label> <path>`
2. Handle the LabelRetrievalFailure(NotFound) case as "unlabeled" rather than a hard error
3. Ensure the filesystem supports SMACK64 xattrs or move the file to one that does

Example fix

// before
let label = get_smack_label_for_path(path)?;
// after
let label = match get_smack_label_for_path(path) {
    Ok(l) => Some(l),
    Err(SmackError::LabelRetrievalFailure(e)) if e.kind() == io::ErrorKind::NotFound => None,
    Err(e) => return Err(e.into()),
};

fn has_smack_label(path: &Path) -> bool {
    xattr::get(path, "security.SMACK64")
        .map(|v| v.is_some())
        .unwrap_or(false)
}

fn is_no_label_set(err: &SmackError) -> bool {
    matches!(err, SmackError::LabelRetrievalFailure(e)
        if e.kind() == std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound)
}

match get_smack_label_for_path(p) {
    Err(SmackError::LabelRetrievalFailure(e))
        if e.kind() == io::ErrorKind::NotFound => None, // unlabeled
    other => Some(other?),
}

When it happens

Trigger: Querying the SMACK label of an unlabeled file (files created before SMACK was enabled, or on filesystems not supporting xattrs that nonetheless report success paths) while `is_smack_enabled()` is true.

Common situations: Running on systems with SMACK LSM active (e.g. Tizen) touching newly created or tmpfs files lacking labels; copying files from non-SMACK systems.

AI-assisted analysis of uutils/coreutils@325183372a (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5e41cf42eadda8d9. Report an issue: GitHub.