---
name: "getfscreatecon"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "libselinux1-dev"
version: "3.8.1-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/getfscreatecon"
---

# getfscreatecon(3)

get or set the SELinux security context used for creating a new file system object

## NAME

getfscreatecon, setfscreatecon - get or set the SELinux security context used for creating a new file system object

## SYNOPSIS

**#include \<selinux/selinux.h\>**

**int getfscreatecon(char \*\****con***);**

**int getfscreatecon\_raw(char \*\****con***);**

**int setfscreatecon(const char \****context***);**

**int setfscreatecon\_raw(const char \****context***);**

## DESCRIPTION

**getfscreatecon**() retrieves the context used for creating a new file system object. This returned context should be freed with [**freecon**(3)](/freecon/3.md) if non-NULL. **getfscreatecon**() sets \*con to NULL if no fscreate context has been explicitly set by the program (i.e. using the default policy behavior).

**setfscreatecon**() sets the context used for creating a new file system object. NULL can be passed to **setfscreatecon**() to reset to the default policy behavior. The fscreate context is automatically reset after the next [**execve**(2)](/execve/2.md), so a program doesn't need to explicitly sanitize it upon startup.

**setfscreatecon**() can be applied prior to library functions that internally perform an file creation, in order to set an file context on the objects.

**getfscreatecon\_raw**() and **setfscreatecon\_raw**() behave identically to their non-raw counterparts but do not perform context translation.

**Note:** Signal handlers that perform a **setfscreatecon**() must take care to save, reset, and restore the fscreate context to avoid unexpected behavior.

**Note:** Contexts are thread specific.

## RETURN VALUE

On error -1 is returned. On success 0 is returned.

## SEE ALSO

[**selinux**(8)](/selinux/8.md), [**freecon**(3)](/freecon/3.md), [**getcon**(3)](/getcon/3.md), [**getexeccon**(3)](/getexeccon/3.md)