fs-xattr

Node.js module for manipulating extended attributes.

There are already some libraries for this, why use fs-xattr?

• Very useful errors
• No limits on value size
• Clean and easy api
• Proper asynchronous implementation

Installation

npm install --save fs-xattr

Usage

import { getAttribute, setAttribute } from 'fs-xattr'

await setAttribute('index.js', 'user.linusu.test', 'Hello, World!')

console.log(await getAttribute('index.js', 'user.linusu.test'))
//=> Hello, World!

API

getAttribute(path, attr)

• path (string, required)
• attr (string, required)
• returns Promise<Buffer> - a Promise that will resolve with the value of the attribute.

Get extended attribute attr from file at path.

getAttributeSync(path, attr)

• path (string, required)
• attr (string, required)
• returns Buffer

Synchronous version of getAttribute.

setAttribute(path, attr, value)

• path (string, required)
• attr (string, required)
• value (Buffer or string, required)
• returns Promise<void> - a Promise that will resolve when the value has been set.

Set extended attribute attr to value on file at path.

setAttributeSync(path, attr, value)

• path (string, required)
• attr (string, required)
• value (Buffer or string, required)

Synchronous version of setAttribute.

removeAttribute(path, attr)

• path (string, required)
• attr (string, required)
• returns Promise<void> - a Promise that will resolve when the value has been removed.

Remove extended attribute attr on file at path.

removeAttributeSync(path, attr)

• path (string, required)
• attr (string, required)

Synchronous version of removeAttribute.

listAttributes(path)

• path (string, required)
• returns Promise<Array<string>> - a Promise that will resolve with an array of strings, e.g. ['user.linusu.test', 'com.apple.FinderInfo'].

List all attributes on file at path.

listAttributesSync(path)

• path (string, required)
• returns Array<string>

Synchronous version of listAttributes.

Namespaces

For the large majority of Linux filesystem there are currently 4 supported namespaces (user, trusted, security, and system) you can use. Some other systems, like FreeBSD have only 2 (user and system).

Be sure to use a namespace that is appropriate for your supported platforms. You can read more about this in the "Extended File Attributes" Wikipedia article.

Using a namespace like com.linusu.test would work on macOS, but would give you the following error on Debian Linux:

Error [ENOTSUP]: The file system does not support extended attributes or has the feature disabled.