Support for Extended Attributes (xattrs)

[mcandeia]

Description

ZenFS is a powerful cross-platform filesystem emulator, and it would be beneficial to add support for extended attributes (xattrs). Many real-world applications rely on extended attributes for storing metadata, access control, and custom file properties.

Why is this needed?

• xattrs allow storing metadata directly within the filesystem rather than in separate sidecar files.
• Many modern applications (e.g., backup tools, file tagging systems) depend on xattrs for efficient data management.
• It would improve compatibility with native filesystem behaviors, especially on Linux (getfattr/setfattr) and macOS (xattr).

Proposed Implementation

• Implement getxattr(path, name) and setxattr(path, name, value) methods in the core API.
• Ensure compatibility across multiple backends, with fallback behavior for unsupported ones.

References

• Linux xattr
• macOS xattr