This operation returns the identifier, syntax and values of a specified attribute for the object named name relative to ctx. If name is empty, the attribute associated with ctx is returned.

The value of follow_link determines what happens when the terminal atomic part of name is bound to an XFN link. If follow_link is non-zero, such a link is followed, and the values of the attribute associated with the final named object are returned; if follow_link is zero, such a link is not followed. Any XFN links encountered before the terminal atomic name are always followed.

fn_attr_get returns a pointer to an FN_attribute_t object if the operation succeeds; it returns a NULL pointer (0) if the operation fails.

fn_attr_get() sets status as described in FN_status_t(3XFN) and xfn_status_codes(3XFN).

fn_attr_get_values() and its related operations are used for getting individual values of an attribute. They should be used if the combined size of all the values are expected to be too large to be returned in a single invocation of fn_attr_get().

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

FN_attribute_t(3XFN), FN_composite_name_t(3XFN), FN_ctx_t(3XFN), FN_identifier_t(3XFN), FN_status_t(3XFN), fn_attr_get_values(3XFN), xfn(3XFN), xfn_attributes(3XFN), xfn_status_codes(3XFN), attributes(5)

The implementation of XFN in this Solaris release is based on the X/Open preliminary specification. It is likely that there will be minor changes to these interfaces to reflect changes in the final version of this specification. The next minor release of Solaris will offer binary compatibility for applications developed using the current interfaces. As the interfaces evolve toward standardization, it is possible that future releases of Solaris will require minor source code changes to applications that have been developed against the preliminary specification.