diff -r 2adb6465eadd -r 6383a4457833 relpipe-data/examples.xml --- a/relpipe-data/examples.xml Fri Jan 18 00:00:58 2019 +0100 +++ b/relpipe-data/examples.xml Fri Jan 18 00:35:43 2019 +0100 @@ -803,6 +803,61 @@
Tip: if we are looking for files in the current directory and want omit the „.“ we just call: find -printf '%P\0'
instead of find -print0
.
+ Extended attributes (xattr) are additional key=value pairs that can be attached to our files. + They are not stored inside the files, but on the filesystem. + Thus they are independent of particular file format (which might not support metadata) + and we can use them e.g. for tagging, cataloguing or adding some notes to our files. + Some tools like GNU Wget use extended attributes to store metadata like the original URL from which the file was downloaded. +
+ +And now we know, where the files on our disk come from:
+ + + +
+ If we like the BeOS/Haiku style, we can create empty files with some attributes attached and use our filesystem as a simple database
+ and query it using relational tools.
+ It will lack indexing, but for basic scenarios like address book it will be fast enough
+ and we can feel a bit of BeOS/Haiku atmosphere in our contemporary GNU/Linux systems.
+ But be careful with that because some editors delete and recreate files while saving them, which destroys the xattrs.
+ Tools like rsync
or tar
with --xattrs
option will backup our attributes securely.
+