rsync - Aug 2009 - support for ext-attrs on non-supporting FS's

Maybe rsync could support extattrs on non-supporting fs's with a 
.<fn>.xattr  file stored
at the same place as the <fn>:
    If a user used a switch to emulate 'xattrs', then on a fs that 
didn't support real .xattrs one
could still ACL and other .xattr info.  If a user ran rsync w/o that 
switch such files
would be treated as 'normal files' -- allowing copying as normal files 
between other
targets, but allowing ACL restoration on some final target by re using 
the --emulate
switch, where it would detect the files on the source, and support on a 
target, and
set ACL's appropriately?

Just a thought....?  Doable or reasonable?

-linda

On Mon, 2009-08-24 at 09:43 -0700, Linda A. Walsh wrote:
> Maybe rsync could support extattrs on non-supporting fs's with a 
> .<fn>.xattr  file stored
> at the same place as the <fn>:
>     If a user used a switch to emulate 'xattrs', then on a fs that 
> didn't support real .xattrs one
> could still ACL and other .xattr info.  If a user ran rsync w/o that 
> switch such files
> would be treated as 'normal files' -- allowing copying as normal
files
> between other
> targets, but allowing ACL restoration on some final target by re using 
> the --emulate
> switch, where it would detect the files on the source, and support on a 
> target, and
> set ACL's appropriately?
> 
> Just a thought....?  Doable or reasonable?
I think the xattr emulation would be more appropriately done in a
virtual filesystem to be layered over the real one (e.g., with FUSE)
than in rsync.

-- 
Matt