While the current fad in operating systems is advanced searching, Linux.com presents an alternative method, advanced file description via extended attributes.
There are many organizational techniques that contribute to efficient file management. Thoughtful and effective directory hierarchies help users locate content with ease. Consistent and expressive file nomenclatures give users the ability to discern the nature of a file's content at a glance. Unfortunately, there are many things that even the most expressive file name can't convey. In some cases, there is just too much information, most of which doesn't warrant inclusion in a concise file name. Many unique file formats now include embedded meta-data mechanisms that provide users with a way to 'tag' files. With a specialized tag editor, users can easily associate a title, artist and album with a specific MP3 file, for instance. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to associate arbitrary tag data with any kind file or directory? With extended attributes, you can.
Extended attributes are essentially name/value pairs that can be assigned to any file or directory. This powerful file system meta-data feature, when intelligently used, can facilitate tremendously efficient file management. The goal of this example-driven overview is to illustrate the power of extended attributes and demonstrate potential uses. You will need a basic understanding of awk and bash to appreciate the significance of some of the examples, but even users without a lot of command line experience will be able to understand the commands and figure out how to use them. By the time you finish reading this article, you will be able to take advantage of the coolest file system feature to be implemented since the symbolic link.
