Linux Commands for Extended Attributes

Set Extended Attributes

To set an extended attribute name and value on a file/directory and/or a FUSE mounted file path, run the following command:

setfattr [-h] -n name [-v value] pathname...

For example:

setfattr -n system.name -v system /mapr_fuse/testcluster/volforsnap/smallfile.txt
setfattr -n security.name -v test /mapr_fuse/testcluster/volforsnap/smallfile.txt
setfattr -n trusted.name -v trusted /mapr_fuse/testcluster/volforsnap/smallfile.txt
setfattr -n user.name -v user /mapr_fuse/testcluster/volforsnap/smallfile.txt

For more information, refer to the Linux man page.

Retrieve Extended Attributes

To retrieve extended attributes, run one of the following commands:

getfattr [-hRLP] -n name [-e en] pathname...
getfattr [-hRLP] -d [-e en] [-m pattern] pathname...

For example:

getfattr  -d -m - /mapr_fuse/testcluster/volforsnap/smallfile.txt
getfattr: Removing leading '/' from absolute path names
  file: mapr_fuse/testcluster/volforsnap/smallfile.txt
  security.name="test"
  system.name="system"
  trusted.name="trusted"
  user.name="user"

For more information, refer to the Linux man page.

Remove Extended Attributes

To remove an extended attribute by name, run the following command:

setfattr [-h] -x name pathname...

For example:

setfattr -x user.test test2

For more information, refer to the Linux man page.

Restore Extended Attributes

To restore extended attributes from a file, which must be in the format generated by the getfattr command with the --dump option, run the following command:

setfattr [-h] --restore=file...

For example:

setfattr --restore=testout
getfattr -d test2
 file: test2
 user.test="test"

For more information, refer to the Linux man page.