btrfs-property

Get, set, or list properties for a given btrfs filesystem object (files, directories, subvolumes, filesystems, or devices).

TLDR

List available properties (and descriptions) for the given btrfs object

$ sudo btrfs property list [path/to/btrfs_object]

Get all properties for the given btrfs object

$ sudo btrfs property get [path/to/btrfs_object]

Get the label property for the given btrfs filesystem or device

$ sudo btrfs property get [path/to/btrfs_filesystem] label

Get all object type-specific properties for the given btrfs filesystem or device

$ sudo btrfs property get -t [subvol|filesystem|inode|device] [path/to/btrfs_filesystem]

Set the compression property for a given btrfs inode (either a file or directory)

$ sudo btrfs property set [path/to/btrfs_inode] compression [zstd|zlib|lzo|none]

SYNOPSIS

btrfs property <subcommand> <args>

DESCRIPTION

btrfs property is used to get/set/list property for given filesystem object. The object can be an inode (file or directory), subvolume or the whole filesystem.

btrfs property provides an unified and user-friendly method to tune different btrfs properties instead of using the traditional method like chattr(1) or lsattr(1).

Object types

A property might apply to several object types so in some cases it's necessary to specify that explicity, however it's not needed in the most common case of files and directories.

The subcommands take parameter -t, use first letter as a shortcut (f/s/d/i) of the type:

filesystem

subvolume

device

inode (file or directory)

Inode properties

compression

compression algorithm set for an inode (it's not possible to set the compression level this way), possible values:

lzo

zlib

zstd

no or none - disable compresssion (equivalent to chattr +m)

"" (empty string) - set the default value

NOTE:

This has changed in version 5.18 of btrfs-progs and requires kernel 5.14 or newer to work.

Subvolume properties

ro

read-only flag of subvolume: true or false. Please also see section SUBVOLUME FLAGS in btrfs-subvolume(8) for possible implications regarding incremental send.

Filesystem properties

label

label of the filesystem. For an unmounted filesystem, provide a path to a block device as object. For a mounted filesystem, specify a mount point.

SUBCOMMAND

get [-t <type>] <object> [<name>]

Read value of a property name of btrfs object of given type, empty name will read all of them

list [-t <type>] <object>

List available properties with their descriptions for the given object.

set [-f] [-t <type>] <object> <name> <value>

Set value of property name on a given btrfs object.

Options

-f

Force the change. Changing some properties may involve safety checks or additional changes that depend on the properties semantics.

EXAMPLES

Set compression on a file:

$ touch file1
$ btrfs prop get file1
[ empty output ]
$ btrfs prop set file1 compression zstd
$ btrfs prop get file1
compression=zstd

Make a writeable subvolume read-only:

$ btrfs subvol create subvol1
[ fill subvol1 with data ]
$ btrfs prop get subvol1
ro=false
$ btrfs prop set subvol1 ro true
ro=true