Re: [gentoo-user] Extended file attributes: ext4

[Michael Mol <mikemol@gmail.com>]

On Sun, Apr 8, 2012 at 2:21 PM, Canek Peláez Valdés <caneko@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 8, 2012 at 11:44 AM,  <meino.cramer@gmx.de> wrote:
>> Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> [12-04-08 18:40]:
>>> On Sunday 08 Apr 2012 16:56:23 David W Noon wrote:
>>> > On Sun, 8 Apr 2012 17:26:03 +0200, meino.cramer@gmx.de wrote about
>>> >
>>> > [gentoo-user] Extended file attributes: ext4:
>>> > > is it possible to go from an ext4-filesystem with no extended file
>>> > > attributes to one with extended file attributes without reformatting
>>> > > the disk or other very risky low level things just by adding this
>>> > > feature to the kenrel (?) ?
>>> >
>>> > Yes, it's simple.
>>> >
>>> > You need to ensure that your kernel configuration has the extended
>>> > attribute support (ACL is a good idea too) and you have booted with the
>>> > ext4 driver so configured.
>>> >
>>> > You then add the xattr option in /etc/fstab for the filesystem(s) where
>>> > you want extended attribute support.  If you do that before you reboot
>>> > (as above) then you will have full extended attribute support.
>>>
>>> I thought that you are meant to pass such options on the CLI at the time you
>>> are formatting the partition ... is this incorrect?
>>>
>>> Of course if you must format the drive with such options then the data won't
>>> survive.
>>> --
>>> Regards,
>>> Mick
>>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> thank you very much for all the input.
>>
>> To clearify things a little:
>>
>> Status quo: System with ext4 and no extended attributes.
>> Where I want to be: The same system with extended attributes.
>>
>> Way to go: No reformatting and mkfs and all that things. Only kernel
>> reconfiguring / recompiling / rebooting and emerging some tools.
>>
>> Possible?
>
> As others had said, this is possible. I used this guide:
>
> http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/643
>
> You need basically to enable the ext4-only features:
>
> tune2fs -O extents,uninit_bg,dir_index <partition>

Um, why? Ext3 had extended attribute support, and ISTR the ext4 code
being able to handle ext3 filesystems.


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