diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/Locking b/Documentation/filesystems/Locking
index d30fb2cb5066..f56b39ee2e54 100644
--- a/Documentation/filesystems/Locking
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/Locking
@@ -61,10 +61,7 @@ prototypes:
 	int (*get_acl)(struct inode *, int);
 	int (*setattr) (struct dentry *, struct iattr *);
 	int (*getattr) (struct vfsmount *, struct dentry *, struct kstat *);
-	int (*setxattr) (struct dentry *, const char *,const void *,size_t,int);
-	ssize_t (*getxattr) (struct dentry *, const char *, void *, size_t);
 	ssize_t (*listxattr) (struct dentry *, char *, size_t);
-	int (*removexattr) (struct dentry *, const char *);
 	int (*fiemap)(struct inode *, struct fiemap_extent_info *, u64 start, u64 len);
 	void (*update_time)(struct inode *, struct timespec *, int);
 	int (*atomic_open)(struct inode *, struct dentry *,
@@ -91,15 +88,13 @@ setattr:	yes
 permission:	no (may not block if called in rcu-walk mode)
 get_acl:	no
 getattr:	no
-setxattr:	yes
-getxattr:	no
 listxattr:	no
-removexattr:	yes
 fiemap:		no
 update_time:	no
 atomic_open:	yes
 tmpfile:	no
 
+
 	Additionally, ->rmdir(), ->unlink() and ->rename() have ->i_mutex on
 victim.
 	cross-directory ->rename() and rename2() has (per-superblock)
@@ -108,6 +103,23 @@ victim.
 See Documentation/filesystems/directory-locking for more detailed discussion
 of the locking scheme for directory operations.
 
+----------------------- xattr_handler operations -----------------------
+prototypes:
+	bool (*list)(struct dentry *dentry);
+	int (*get)(const struct xattr_handler *handler, struct dentry *dentry,
+		   struct inode *inode, const char *name, void *buffer,
+		   size_t size);
+	int (*set)(const struct xattr_handler *handler, struct dentry *dentry,
+		   struct inode *inode, const char *name, const void *buffer,
+		   size_t size, int flags);
+
+locking rules:
+	all may block
+		i_mutex(inode)
+list:		no
+get:		no
+set:		yes
+
 --------------------------- super_operations ---------------------------
 prototypes:
 	struct inode *(*alloc_inode)(struct super_block *sb);
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/vfs.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/vfs.txt
index 9ace359d6cc5..2c9b29e5b09d 100644
--- a/Documentation/filesystems/vfs.txt
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/vfs.txt
@@ -323,6 +323,35 @@ Whoever sets up the inode is responsible for filling in the "i_op" field. This
 is a pointer to a "struct inode_operations" which describes the methods that
 can be performed on individual inodes.
 
+struct xattr_handlers
+---------------------
+
+On filesystems that support extended attributes (xattrs), the s_xattr
+superblock field points to a NULL-terminated array of xattr handlers.  Extended
+attributes are name:value pairs.
+
+  name: Indicates that the handler matches attributes with the specified name
+	(such as "system.posix_acl_access"); the prefix field must be NULL.
+
+  prefix: Indicates that the handler matches all attributes with the specified
+	name prefix (such as "user."); the name field must be NULL.
+
+  list: Determine if attributes matching this xattr handler should be listed
+	for a particular dentry.  Used by some listxattr implementations like
+	generic_listxattr.
+
+  get: Called by the VFS to get the value of a particular extended attribute.
+	This method is called by the getxattr(2) system call.
+
+  set: Called by the VFS to set the value of a particular extended attribute.
+	When the new value is NULL, called to remove a particular extended
+	attribute.  This method is called by the the setxattr(2) and
+	removexattr(2) system calls.
+
+When none of the xattr handlers of a filesystem match the specified attribute
+name or when a filesystem doesn't support extended attributes, the various
+*xattr(2) system calls return -EOPNOTSUPP.
+
 
 The Inode Object
 ================
@@ -356,10 +385,7 @@ struct inode_operations {
 	int (*get_acl)(struct inode *, int);
 	int (*setattr) (struct dentry *, struct iattr *);
 	int (*getattr) (struct vfsmount *mnt, struct dentry *, struct kstat *);
-	int (*setxattr) (struct dentry *, const char *,const void *,size_t,int);
-	ssize_t (*getxattr) (struct dentry *, const char *, void *, size_t);
 	ssize_t (*listxattr) (struct dentry *, char *, size_t);
-	int (*removexattr) (struct dentry *, const char *);
 	void (*update_time)(struct inode *, struct timespec *, int);
 	int (*atomic_open)(struct inode *, struct dentry *, struct file *,
 			unsigned open_flag, umode_t create_mode, int *opened);
@@ -463,19 +489,8 @@ otherwise noted.
   getattr: called by the VFS to get attributes of a file. This method
   	is called by stat(2) and related system calls.
 
-  setxattr: called by the VFS to set an extended attribute for a file.
-  	Extended attribute is a name:value pair associated with an
-  	inode. This method is called by setxattr(2) system call.
-
-  getxattr: called by the VFS to retrieve the value of an extended
-  	attribute name. This method is called by getxattr(2) function
-  	call.
-
   listxattr: called by the VFS to list all extended attributes for a
-  	given file. This method is called by listxattr(2) system call.
-
-  removexattr: called by the VFS to remove an extended attribute from
-  	a file. This method is called by removexattr(2) system call.
+	given file. This method is called by the listxattr(2) system call.
 
   update_time: called by the VFS to update a specific time or the i_version of
   	an inode.  If this is not defined the VFS will update the inode itself
diff --git a/fs/orangefs/xattr.c b/fs/orangefs/xattr.c
index 2a9f07f06d10..74a81b1daaac 100644
--- a/fs/orangefs/xattr.c
+++ b/fs/orangefs/xattr.c
@@ -73,6 +73,9 @@ ssize_t orangefs_inode_getxattr(struct inode *inode, const char *name,
 		     "%s: name %s, buffer_size %zd\n",
 		     __func__, name, size);
 
+	if (S_ISLNK(inode->i_mode))
+		return -EOPNOTSUPP;
+
 	if (strlen(name) >= ORANGEFS_MAX_XATTR_NAMELEN) {
 		gossip_err("Invalid key length (%d)\n",
 			   (int)strlen(name));
diff --git a/fs/xattr.c b/fs/xattr.c
index e1ccf2be88ac..2432442656a2 100644
--- a/fs/xattr.c
+++ b/fs/xattr.c
@@ -36,12 +36,9 @@ strcmp_prefix(const char *a, const char *a_prefix)
 
 /*
  * In order to implement different sets of xattr operations for each xattr
- * prefix with the generic xattr API, a filesystem should create a
- * null-terminated array of struct xattr_handler (one for each prefix) and
- * hang a pointer to it off of the s_xattr field of the superblock.
- *
- * The generic_fooxattr() functions will use this list to dispatch xattr
- * operations to the correct xattr_handler.
+ * prefix, a filesystem should create a null-terminated array of struct
+ * xattr_handler (one for each prefix) and hang a pointer to it off of the
+ * s_xattr field of the superblock.
  */
 #define for_each_xattr_handler(handlers, handler)		\
 	if (handlers)						\
@@ -140,9 +137,16 @@ int
 __vfs_setxattr(struct dentry *dentry, struct inode *inode, const char *name,
 	       const void *value, size_t size, int flags)
 {
-	if (!inode->i_op->setxattr)
+	const struct xattr_handler *handler;
+
+	handler = xattr_resolve_name(inode, &name);
+	if (IS_ERR(handler))
+		return PTR_ERR(handler);
+	if (!handler->set)
 		return -EOPNOTSUPP;
-	return inode->i_op->setxattr(dentry, inode, name, value, size, flags);
+	if (size == 0)
+		value = "";  /* empty EA, do not remove */
+	return handler->set(handler, dentry, inode, name, value, size, flags);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(__vfs_setxattr);
 
@@ -172,7 +176,7 @@ int __vfs_setxattr_noperm(struct dentry *dentry, const char *name,
 
 	if (issec)
 		inode->i_flags &= ~S_NOSEC;
-	if (inode->i_op->setxattr) {
+	if (inode->i_opflags & IOP_XATTR) {
 		error = __vfs_setxattr(dentry, inode, name, value, size, flags);
 		if (!error) {
 			fsnotify_xattr(dentry);
@@ -257,6 +261,7 @@ ssize_t
 vfs_getxattr_alloc(struct dentry *dentry, const char *name, char **xattr_value,
 		   size_t xattr_size, gfp_t flags)
 {
+	const struct xattr_handler *handler;
 	struct inode *inode = dentry->d_inode;
 	char *value = *xattr_value;
 	int error;
@@ -265,10 +270,12 @@ vfs_getxattr_alloc(struct dentry *dentry, const char *name, char **xattr_value,
 	if (error)
 		return error;
 
-	if (!inode->i_op->getxattr)
+	handler = xattr_resolve_name(inode, &name);
+	if (IS_ERR(handler))
+		return PTR_ERR(handler);
+	if (!handler->get)
 		return -EOPNOTSUPP;
-
-	error = inode->i_op->getxattr(dentry, inode, name, NULL, 0);
+	error = handler->get(handler, dentry, inode, name, NULL, 0);
 	if (error < 0)
 		return error;
 
@@ -279,7 +286,7 @@ vfs_getxattr_alloc(struct dentry *dentry, const char *name, char **xattr_value,
 		memset(value, 0, error + 1);
 	}
 
-	error = inode->i_op->getxattr(dentry, inode, name, value, error);
+	error = handler->get(handler, dentry, inode, name, value, error);
 	*xattr_value = value;
 	return error;
 }
@@ -288,9 +295,14 @@ ssize_t
 __vfs_getxattr(struct dentry *dentry, struct inode *inode, const char *name,
 	       void *value, size_t size)
 {
-	if (!inode->i_op->getxattr)
+	const struct xattr_handler *handler;
+
+	handler = xattr_resolve_name(inode, &name);
+	if (IS_ERR(handler))
+		return PTR_ERR(handler);
+	if (!handler->get)
 		return -EOPNOTSUPP;
-	return inode->i_op->getxattr(dentry, inode, name, value, size);
+	return handler->get(handler, dentry, inode, name, value, size);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(__vfs_getxattr);
 
@@ -349,11 +361,15 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(vfs_listxattr);
 int
 __vfs_removexattr(struct dentry *dentry, const char *name)
 {
-	struct inode *inode = dentry->d_inode;
+	struct inode *inode = d_inode(dentry);
+	const struct xattr_handler *handler;
 
-	if (!inode->i_op->removexattr)
+	handler = xattr_resolve_name(inode, &name);
+	if (IS_ERR(handler))
+		return PTR_ERR(handler);
+	if (!handler->set)
 		return -EOPNOTSUPP;
-	return inode->i_op->removexattr(dentry, name);
+	return handler->set(handler, dentry, inode, name, NULL, 0, XATTR_REPLACE);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(__vfs_removexattr);