What is the difference between TMSU and attr?

[tareefdev]

I was looking for a files tagging solution on Linux platform and ended up with two options, this great tool and attr.

I feel they are similar in both purpose and usage, e.g setting a tag tmsu tag test.md art setfattr -n user.tag -v "art" test.md

Also to search for a file has a tag I could use tmsu files or other tools available for attr like Recoll, Baloo etc

So I thought maybe it's helpful to add some information related to this question on the wiki.

[oniony]

I'd not heard of that one, I'll have a look at it.

On Tue, 18 Dec 2018, 17:35 Tareef Mando <notifications@github.com wrote:

I was looking for a files tagging solution on Linux platforms and ended up with two options, this great tool and attr https://linux.die.net/man/5/attr.

I feel they are similar in both purpose and usage: Setting a tag: tmsu tag test.md art setfattr -n user.tag -v "art" test.md

Now to search for a file has a tag I could use tmsu files or other tools available for attr like Reoll, Baloo etc

So I thought maybe it's helpful to add some information related to this question on wiki.

— You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/oniony/TMSU/issues/160, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAAXBw2re2Izc4XBBNJrKYWfBJVERjclks5u6SdtgaJpZM4ZYwzS .

[oniony]

Oh, sorry, it's extended attributes. I've obviously heard of them.

I remember I did consider using them when starting the project but I read that they can easily get lost when moving files about as they're not always supported. Plus setting the attributes modifies the files.

Certainly I could add something to the wiki comparing the two.

On Tue, 18 Dec 2018, 17:35 Tareef Mando <notifications@github.com wrote:

I was looking for a files tagging solution on Linux platforms and ended up with two options, this great tool and attr https://linux.die.net/man/5/attr.

I feel they are similar in both purpose and usage: Setting a tag: tmsu tag test.md art setfattr -n user.tag -v "art" test.md

Now to search for a file has a tag I could use tmsu files or other tools available for attr like Reoll, Baloo etc

So I thought maybe it's helpful to add some information related to this question on wiki.

— You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/oniony/TMSU/issues/160, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAAXBw2re2Izc4XBBNJrKYWfBJVERjclks5u6SdtgaJpZM4ZYwzS .

[tareefdev]

Thanks for the quick reply. It's possible (partly?) to preserve extended attributes, e.g mv is preserving by default, cp needs --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps,xattr as a flag and so on.

[oniony]

Sure, but if you move a file to a filesystem that does not have support them they'll be silently lost, for example.

Plus I really wanted TMSU to be a 'walk away' affair whereby the files are not changed by the tool so you can end up where you started if you don't like it for whatever reason. That way it's a risk free buy-in. It also means it works on read-only filesystems and files as the tag meta-data is separate.

Those are the main differences anyhow.

On Tue, 18 Dec 2018, 17:42 Tareef Mando <notifications@github.com wrote:

Thanks for the quick reply. It's possible https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/File_permissions_and_attributes#Preserving_extended_attributes (partly?) to preserve extended attributes, e.g mv is preserving by default, cp needs --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps,xattr as a flag and so on.

— You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/oniony/TMSU/issues/160#issuecomment-448306860, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAAXB_1eE5aNHb4OeV_bD7KMlpYBZy4Rks5u6SkFgaJpZM4ZYwzS .

[tareefdev]

Great! Yeah absolutely it's great to have those two options, I just wanted to focus on the real differences between them so that we can pick one for the right use case.

[tareefdev]

Also, it would be great if you add a section for developers, for example, I consider writing a package for Emacs to enhance supporting tags on Dried (Emacs default file manager), it would be as an interface to set, get tags and query files based on them, so I wonder which the best tool here too

[defaultxr]

@tareefdev Obviously it's been a while since this was posted, but I am interested in the Emacs/TMSU interface you mention, if you ever ended up writing anything for that.

[tareefdev]

@defaultxr unfortunately, I didn't. Learning Lisp goes slowly with my available time