Re: [Bug-tar] xattr support on Linux

[Joerg Schilling]

Pavel Raiskup <address@hidden> wrote:

> > I've held off through a combination of wanting to stay as close as
> > possible to the upstream sources and an apparently erroneous assumption
> > that with several xattr patches floating around that eventually one
> > would be merged.
> >
> > What's the story here?  Are there plans to add xattr support to tar?  If
> > not, would it help if I pick one, merge it, and expose it, say, through
> > inclusion in Debian's experimental tree?
>
> Bdale, thanks for touching this important topic.  I just want to ask you
> whether there is xattr patch other than Fedora originated?  It could look
> like there is several xattr patches but AFAIK it is still the single one
> xattrs patch applied in Fedora/Gentoo/RHEL but with several incremental
> improvements (both from Gentoo/RH side).  If you are considering this, be
> sure you have at least checked the last updated version:

star supports Linux xattrs since 2003. Note that Linux xattrs are not 
compatible to the xattrs that are in the NFSv4 standard.


> Paul, Sergey, Linux extended attributes are quite important file system
> feature -- at least users of POSIX ACLs, capabilities or SELinux need some
> way to backup these.  I'd be glad to help you with related problems to
> reduce maintenance cost of course if you reconsidered patching GNU tar for
> xattrs again.  Could you discuss the pros and cons in mentioned thread?

There is nothing named "POSIX ACLs".

The only ACL standard I am aware of is the ACL system that is part of the NFSv4 
standard, which is identical to NTFS ACLs.

20 years ago, there was a POSIX draft for ACLs that was implemented by some 
UNIX systems such as Solaris, SCO and IRIX. This draft has however been 
withdrawn 15 years ago already. 4 years later, Linux started to implement this
withdrawn draft.

star supports these deprecated ACLs since 2001. You definitely do not need 
support for Linux xattrs for ACLs as this is an implementation detail.

Jörg

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