From 393c5b58c3721f46796dc67e3b85b5c006cc42a2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2017 13:15:33 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] statx.2: Clarify that the kernel does not reject invalid
 'mask' values

And also explain why.

Reported-by: Andreas Dilger <adilger@dilger.ca>
Signed-off-by: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
---
 man2/statx.2 | 13 ++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/man2/statx.2 b/man2/statx.2
index 7d71ed856..aac3a9d1e 100644
--- a/man2/statx.2
+++ b/man2/statx.2
@@ -264,11 +264,22 @@ STATX_ALL	[All currently available fields]
 .TE
 .in
 .PP
-.B "Do not"
+Note the kernel does
+.I not
+reject values in
+.I mask
+other than the above.
+Instead, it simply informs the caller which values are supported
+by this kernel and filesystem via the
+.I statx.stx_mask
+field.
+Therefore,
+.I "do not"
 simply set
 .I mask
 to
 .B UINT_MAX
+(all bits set),
 as one or more bits may, in the future, be used to specify an
 extension to the buffer.
 .SS