Linux: tell if file was opened with O_SYNC

This can be done using a systemtap script. This one has been taken from here, and does exactly what you want:

# list_flags.stp
# Copyright (C) 2007 Red Hat, Inc., Eugene Teo 
#
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as
# published by the Free Software Foundation.
#

%{ 
#include <linux/file.h>
%}

function list_flags:long (pid:long, fd:long) %{
        struct task_struct *p;
        struct list_head *_p, *_n;

        list_for_each_safe(_p, _n, &current->tasks) {
                p = list_entry(_p, struct task_struct, tasks);
                if (p->pid == (int)THIS->pid) {
                        struct file *filp;
                        struct files_struct *files = p->files;
                        spin_lock(&files->file_lock);
                        filp = fcheck_files(files, (int)THIS->fd);
                        THIS->__retvalue = (!filp ? -1 : filp->f_flags);
                        spin_unlock(&files->file_lock);
                        break;
                }
        }
%}

probe begin {
        flag_str = ( (flags = list_flags($1, $2)) ? _sys_open_flag_str(flags) : "???");
        printf("pid: %d, fd: %d: %s\n", $1, $2, flag_str)
        exit()
}

Two examples on how to use it are provided in the referenced link, I'll reproduce one of them here:

[eteo@kerndev ~]$ stap -vg list_flags.stp $$ 3 2>&1 | grep O_DIRECT
pid: 30830, fd: 3: O_RDONLY|O_APPEND|O_CREAT|O_DIRECT|O_DIRECTORY|O_EXCL|O_LARGEFILE|O_NOATIME|O_NOCTTY|O_NOFOLLOW|O_NONBLOCK|O_SYNC|O_TRUNC

You can replace O_DIRECT with O_SYNC for your purpose.

Further references:

• SystemTap Beginners Guide
• SystemTap Tapset Reference

# # # # # #

lsof +fg /path will show flags used to open the file provide as a path. The short description of the flags returned can be found in man lsof.