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diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/ext4/attributes.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/ext4/attributes.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..54386a010a8d --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/ext4/attributes.rst @@ -0,0 +1,191 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +Extended Attributes +------------------- + +Extended attributes (xattrs) are typically stored in a separate data +block on the disk and referenced from inodes via ``inode.i_file_acl*``. +The first use of extended attributes seems to have been for storing file +ACLs and other security data (selinux). With the ``user_xattr`` mount +option it is possible for users to store extended attributes so long as +all attribute names begin with “user”; this restriction seems to have +disappeared as of Linux 3.0. + +There are two places where extended attributes can be found. The first +place is between the end of each inode entry and the beginning of the +next inode entry. For example, if inode.i\_extra\_isize = 28 and +sb.inode\_size = 256, then there are 256 - (128 + 28) = 100 bytes +available for in-inode extended attribute storage. The second place +where extended attributes can be found is in the block pointed to by +``inode.i_file_acl``. As of Linux 3.11, it is not possible for this +block to contain a pointer to a second extended attribute block (or even +the remaining blocks of a cluster). In theory it is possible for each +attribute's value to be stored in a separate data block, though as of +Linux 3.11 the code does not permit this. + +Keys are generally assumed to be ASCIIZ strings, whereas values can be +strings or binary data. + +Extended attributes, when stored after the inode, have a header +``ext4_xattr_ibody_header`` that is 4 bytes long: + +.. list-table:: + :widths: 8 8 24 40 + :header-rows: 1 + + * - Offset + - Type + - Name + - Description + * - 0x0 + - \_\_le32 + - h\_magic + - Magic number for identification, 0xEA020000. This value is set by the + Linux driver, though e2fsprogs doesn't seem to check it(?) + +The beginning of an extended attribute block is in +``struct ext4_xattr_header``, which is 32 bytes long: + +.. list-table:: + :widths: 8 8 24 40 + :header-rows: 1 + + * - Offset + - Type + - Name + - Description + * - 0x0 + - \_\_le32 + - h\_magic + - Magic number for identification, 0xEA020000. + * - 0x4 + - \_\_le32 + - h\_refcount + - Reference count. + * - 0x8 + - \_\_le32 + - h\_blocks + - Number of disk blocks used. + * - 0xC + - \_\_le32 + - h\_hash + - Hash value of all attributes. + * - 0x10 + - \_\_le32 + - h\_checksum + - Checksum of the extended attribute block. + * - 0x14 + - \_\_u32 + - h\_reserved[2] + - Zero. + +The checksum is calculated against the FS UUID, the 64-bit block number +of the extended attribute block, and the entire block (header + +entries). + +Following the ``struct ext4_xattr_header`` or +``struct ext4_xattr_ibody_header`` is an array of +``struct ext4_xattr_entry``; each of these entries is at least 16 bytes +long. When stored in an external block, the ``struct ext4_xattr_entry`` +entries must be stored in sorted order. The sort order is +``e_name_index``, then ``e_name_len``, and finally ``e_name``. +Attributes stored inside an inode do not need be stored in sorted order. + +.. list-table:: + :widths: 8 8 24 40 + :header-rows: 1 + + * - Offset + - Type + - Name + - Description + * - 0x0 + - \_\_u8 + - e\_name\_len + - Length of name. + * - 0x1 + - \_\_u8 + - e\_name\_index + - Attribute name index. There is a discussion of this below. + * - 0x2 + - \_\_le16 + - e\_value\_offs + - Location of this attribute's value on the disk block where it is stored. + Multiple attributes can share the same value. For an inode attribute + this value is relative to the start of the first entry; for a block this + value is relative to the start of the block (i.e. the header). + * - 0x4 + - \_\_le32 + - e\_value\_inum + - The inode where the value is stored. Zero indicates the value is in the + same block as this entry. This field is only used if the + INCOMPAT\_EA\_INODE feature is enabled. + * - 0x8 + - \_\_le32 + - e\_value\_size + - Length of attribute value. + * - 0xC + - \_\_le32 + - e\_hash + - Hash value of attribute name and attribute value. The kernel doesn't + update the hash for in-inode attributes, so for that case this value + must be zero, because e2fsck validates any non-zero hash regardless of + where the xattr lives. + * - 0x10 + - char + - e\_name[e\_name\_len] + - Attribute name. Does not include trailing NULL. + +Attribute values can follow the end of the entry table. There appears to +be a requirement that they be aligned to 4-byte boundaries. The values +are stored starting at the end of the block and grow towards the +xattr\_header/xattr\_entry table. When the two collide, the overflow is +put into a separate disk block. If the disk block fills up, the +filesystem returns -ENOSPC. + +The first four fields of the ``ext4_xattr_entry`` are set to zero to +mark the end of the key list. + +Attribute Name Indices +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +Logically speaking, extended attributes are a series of key=value pairs. +The keys are assumed to be NULL-terminated strings. To reduce the amount +of on-disk space that the keys consume, the beginning of the key string +is matched against the attribute name index. If a match is found, the +attribute name index field is set, and matching string is removed from +the key name. Here is a map of name index values to key prefixes: + +.. list-table:: + :widths: 16 64 + :header-rows: 1 + + * - Name Index + - Key Prefix + * - 0 + - (no prefix) + * - 1 + - “user.” + * - 2 + - “system.posix\_acl\_access” + * - 3 + - “system.posix\_acl\_default” + * - 4 + - “trusted.” + * - 6 + - “security.” + * - 7 + - “system.” (inline\_data only?) + * - 8 + - “system.richacl” (SuSE kernels only?) + +For example, if the attribute key is “user.fubar”, the attribute name +index is set to 1 and the “fubar” name is recorded on disk. + +POSIX ACLs +~~~~~~~~~~ + +POSIX ACLs are stored in a reduced version of the Linux kernel (and +libacl's) internal ACL format. The key difference is that the version +number is different (1) and the ``e_id`` field is only stored for named +user and group ACLs. |