Extended attributes for NFSv3 - possible Linux interop

[James Morris]

I've been working on an implementation of extended attributes for the 
Linux NFSv3 code, initially based on the IRIX implementation [1].  This is 
being developed as a sideband protocol ('XATTR'), to convey simple 
name/value string extended attributes over the network.

Here's a link to the latest patchset:
http://lwn.net/Articles/392944/

and my LinuxCon slides on the topic from last year:
http://namei.org/presentations/linuxcon09_nfsv3xattrs.pdf

The code is at a working prototype stage, and the next step is to begin 
formalizing the protocol.

I'd like to try and determine whether there is any interest in this XATTR 
protocol for FreeBSD (which has a similar extended attribute model to 
Linux), and then whether we should develop an informal specification to 
cater for interoperability between FreeBSD and Linux. 


[1] http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ob1.nuked/src/nfs/


Thanks,


- James
-- 
James Morris
<jmorris at namei.org>