Beyond Linux® From Scratch - Version 7.4

Chapter 4. Security

attr-2.4.47

Introduction to attr

The attr package contains utilities to administer the extended attributes on filesystem objects.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-7.4 platform.

Package Information

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/attr

Installation of attr

Install attr by running the following commands: 

sed -i -e 's|/@pkg_name@|&-@pkg_version@|' include/builddefs.in &&

INSTALL_USER=root  \
INSTALL_GROUP=root \
./configure --prefix=/usr --disable-static &&
make

There are three sets of tests that come with this package. Issue the following to execute all three: make tests root-tests ext-tests. For meaningful results, the tests need to be carried out on a file system that supports extended attributes.

Now, as the root user: 

make install install-dev install-lib &&
chmod -v 755 /usr/lib/libattr.so &&
mv -v /usr/lib/libattr.so.* /lib &&
ln -sfv ../../lib/libattr.so.1 /usr/lib/libattr.so

Command Explanations

sed ... include/builddefs.in: This command modifies the documentation directory so that it is a versioned directory.

--disable-static: This switch prevents installation of static versions of the libraries.

Configuring attr

Configuration Information

There is no configuration to attr itself, but to get any use out of attr, a filesystem needs to support extended attributes.

One way to achieve this is to add the user_xattr option to an ext3 filesystem in the /etc/fstab file as shown below: 

# file system  mount-point  type   options                 dump  fsck
#                                                                order

/dev/sda1      /            ext3   defaults,acl,user_xattr 0     2

Contents

Installed Programs: attr, getfattr, and setfattr
Installed Library: libattr.so
Installed Directories: /usr/{include/attr,share/doc/attr-2.4.47}

Short Descriptions

attr

extends attributes on filesystem objects.

getfattr

gets the extended attributes of filesystem objects.

setfattr

sets the extended attributes of filesystem objects.

libattr.so

contains the attr API functions.

Last updated on 2013-08-22 13:45:41 -0700