vfs_streams_xattr - Store alternate data streams in posix xattrs

Author

       The original Samba software and related utilities were created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed
       by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar to the way the Linux kernel is developed.

Samba 4.22.3-Ubuntu-4.22.3+dfs                     07/21/2025                               VFS_STREAMS_XATTR(8)

Description

       This VFS module is part of the samba(7) suite.

       The vfs_streams_xattr enables storing of NTFS alternate data streams in the file system. As a normal
       posix file system does not support the concept of multiple data streams per file, the streams_xattr
       module stores the data in posix extended attributes (xattrs). The name of these attributes by default is
       user.DosStream."ADS-NAME". The prefix "user.DosStream." can be changed with the module option
       streams_xattr:prefix, but be aware that this will also expose those ADS over the SMB extended attributes
       interface.

       The file system that is shared with this module enabled must support xattrs.

       Please note that most file systems have severe limitations on the size of xattrs. So this module might
       work for applications like IE that stores small zone information in streams but will fail for
       applications that store serious amounts of data in ADSs.

Examples

[share]vfsobjects=streams_xattr

Name

       vfs_streams_xattr - Store alternate data streams in posix xattrs

Options

       streams_xattr:prefix = STRING
           Name prefix used when storing an ADS in an xattr, defaults to user.DosStream.. Changing this will
           also expose ADS over the SMB extended attributes interface.

       streams_xattr:store_stream_type = [yes|no]
           Whether the xattr names for Alternate Data Streams of type "$DATA" are suffixed by the stream type
           string ":$DATA". The default is yes.