Package xattr provides support for extended attributes on linux, darwin and freebsd. Extended attributes are name:value pairs associated permanently with files and directories, similar to the environment strings associated with a process. An attribute may be defined or undefined. If it is defined, its value may be empty or non-empty. More details you can find here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_file_attributes . All functions are provided in triples: Get/LGet/FGet, Set/LSet/FSet etc. The "L" variant will not follow a symlink at the end of the path, and "F" variant accepts a file descriptor instead of a path. Example for "L" variant, assuming path is "/symlink1/symlink2", where both components are symlinks: Get will follow "symlink1" and "symlink2" and operate on the target of "symlink2". LGet will follow "symlink1" but operate directly on "symlink2".