diff --git a/src/auto/configure b/src/auto/configure
index 34e9f44..54c1aa8 100755
--- a/src/auto/configure
+++ b/src/auto/configure
@@ -825,6 +825,7 @@
 with_modified_by
 enable_smack
 enable_selinux
+enable_xattr
 with_features
 with_compiledby
 enable_xsmp
@@ -1514,6 +1515,7 @@
   --disable-darwin        Disable Darwin (Mac OS X) support.
   --disable-smack	  Do not check for Smack support.
   --disable-selinux	  Do not check for SELinux support.
+  --disable-xattr	  Do not check for XATTR support.
   --disable-xsmp          Disable XSMP session management
   --disable-xsmp-interact Disable XSMP interaction
   --enable-luainterp=OPTS      Include Lua interpreter.  default=no OPTS=no/yes/dynamic
@@ -5419,6 +5421,32 @@
   fi
 fi
 
+{ printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking --enable-xattr argument" >&5
+printf %s "checking --enable-xattr argument... " >&6; }
+# Check whether --enable-xattr was given.
+if test ${enable_xattr+y}
+then :
+  enableval=$enable_xattr;
+else $as_nop
+  enable_xattr="yes"
+fi
+
+if test "$enable_xattr" = "yes"; then
+  { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: yes" >&5
+printf "%s\n" "yes" >&6; }
+  ac_fn_c_check_header_compile "$LINENO" "attr/xattr.h" "ac_cv_header_attr_xattr_h" "$ac_includes_default"
+if test "x$ac_cv_header_attr_xattr_h" = xyes
+then :
+  printf "%s\n" "#define HAVE_XATTR 1" >>confdefs.h
+
+fi
+
+else
+  { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: no" >&5
+printf "%s\n" "no" >&6; }
+fi
+
+
 
 { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking --with-features argument" >&5
 printf %s "checking --with-features argument... " >&6; }
diff --git a/src/bufwrite.c b/src/bufwrite.c
index 03a83b5..bf79ad5 100644
--- a/src/bufwrite.c
+++ b/src/bufwrite.c
@@ -1471,6 +1471,9 @@
 # if defined(HAVE_SELINUX) || defined(HAVE_SMACK)
 			mch_copy_sec(fname, backup);
 # endif
+# ifdef FEAT_XATTR
+			mch_copy_xattr(fname, backup);
+# endif
 #endif
 
 			// copy the file.
@@ -1506,6 +1509,9 @@
 #if defined(HAVE_SELINUX) || defined(HAVE_SMACK)
 			mch_copy_sec(fname, backup);
 #endif
+#ifdef FEAT_XATTR
+			mch_copy_xattr(fname, backup);
+#endif
 #ifdef MSWIN
 			(void)mch_copy_file_attribute(fname, backup);
 #endif
@@ -2196,11 +2202,18 @@
 	}
 #endif
 
-#if defined(HAVE_SELINUX) || defined(HAVE_SMACK)
+#if defined(HAVE_SELINUX) || defined(HAVE_SMACK) || defined(FEAT_XATTR)
 	// Probably need to set the security context.
 	if (!backup_copy)
+	{
+#if defined(HAVE_SELINUX) || defined(HAVE_SMACK)
 	    mch_copy_sec(backup, wfname);
 #endif
+#ifdef FEAT_XATTR
+	    mch_copy_xattr(backup, wfname);
+#endif
+	}
+#endif
 
 #ifdef UNIX
 	// When creating a new file, set its owner/group to that of the
diff --git a/src/config.h.in b/src/config.h.in
index 93972ca..8ad9f03 100644
--- a/src/config.h.in
+++ b/src/config.h.in
@@ -226,6 +226,7 @@
 #undef HAVE_MBLEN
 #undef HAVE_TIMER_CREATE
 #undef HAVE_CLOCK_GETTIME
+#undef HAVE_XATTR
 
 /* Define, if needed, for accessing large files. */
 #undef _LARGE_FILES
diff --git a/src/configure.ac b/src/configure.ac
index bfdcfea..e21e234 100644
--- a/src/configure.ac
+++ b/src/configure.ac
@@ -513,6 +513,18 @@
   fi
 fi
 
+dnl enable xattr support
+AC_MSG_CHECKING(--enable-xattr argument)
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(xattr,
+	[  --disable-xattr	  Do not check for XATTR support.],
+	, enable_xattr="yes")
+if test "$enable_xattr" = "yes"; then
+  AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
+  AC_CHECK_HEADER([attr/xattr.h], [AC_DEFINE(HAVE_XATTR)])
+else
+  AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
+fi
+
 dnl Check user requested features.
 
 AC_MSG_CHECKING(--with-features argument)
diff --git a/src/errors.h b/src/errors.h
index 6b44169..16b38cf 100644
--- a/src/errors.h
+++ b/src/errors.h
@@ -3552,6 +3552,14 @@
 	INIT(= N_("E1504: Positional argument %d type used inconsistently: %s/%s"));
 EXTERN char e_invalid_format_specifier_str[]
 	INIT(= N_("E1505: Invalid format specifier: %s"));
-// E1506 - E1519 unused
+EXTERN char e_xattr_erange[]
+	INIT(= N_("E1506: Buffer too small to copy xattr value or key"));
+EXTERN char e_xattr_enotsup[]
+	INIT(= N_("E1507: Extended attributes are not supported by the filesystem"));
+EXTERN char e_xattr_e2big[]
+	INIT(= N_("E1508: size of the extended attribute value is larger than the maximum size allowed"));
+EXTERN char e_xattr_other[]
+	INIT(= N_("E1509: error occured when reading or writing extended attribute"));
+// E1509 - E1519 unused
 EXTERN char e_aptypes_is_null_nr_str[]
 	INIT(= "E1520: Internal error: ap_types or ap_types[idx] is NULL: %d: %s");
diff --git a/src/evalfunc.c b/src/evalfunc.c
index 2cd1985..501ee03 100644
--- a/src/evalfunc.c
+++ b/src/evalfunc.c
@@ -6464,6 +6464,13 @@
 		0
 #endif
 		},
+	{"xattr",
+#ifdef FEAT_XATTR
+		1
+#else
+		0
+#endif
+		},
 	{"xim",
 #ifdef FEAT_XIM
 		1
diff --git a/src/feature.h b/src/feature.h
index ca180dd..b26dc6c 100644
--- a/src/feature.h
+++ b/src/feature.h
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
  * - Add a #define below.
  * - Add a message in the table above ex_version().
  * - Add a string to f_has().
- * - Add a feature to ":help feature-list" in doc/eval.txt.
+ * - Add a feature to ":help feature-list" in doc/builtin.txt.
  * - Add feature to ":help +feature-list" in doc/various.txt.
  * - Add comment for the documentation of commands that use the feature.
  */
@@ -1175,3 +1175,11 @@
 	|| defined(FEAT_TERMINAL)
 # define USING_LOAD_LIBRARY
 #endif
+
+/*
+ * XATTR support
+ */
+
+#if defined(FEAT_NORMAL) && defined(HAVE_XATTR)
+# define FEAT_XATTR
+#endif
diff --git a/src/os_unix.c b/src/os_unix.c
index c5a54e4..674dd96 100644
--- a/src/os_unix.c
+++ b/src/os_unix.c
@@ -35,6 +35,11 @@
 static int selinux_enabled = -1;
 #endif
 
+#ifdef FEAT_XATTR
+# include <attr/xattr.h>
+# define XATTR_VAL_LEN 1024
+#endif
+
 #ifdef HAVE_SMACK
 # include <attr/xattr.h>
 # include <linux/xattr.h>
@@ -3096,6 +3101,96 @@
 }
 #endif // HAVE_SMACK
 
+#ifdef FEAT_XATTR
+/*
+ * Copy extended attributes from_file to to_file
+ */
+    void
+mch_copy_xattr(char_u *from_file, char_u *to_file)
+{
+    char	*xattr_buf;
+    size_t	size;
+    size_t	tsize;
+    ssize_t	keylen, vallen, max_vallen = 0;
+    char	*key;
+    char	*val = NULL;
+    char	*errmsg = NULL;
+
+    if (from_file == NULL)
+	return;
+
+    // get the length of the extended attributes
+    size = listxattr((char *)from_file, NULL, 0);
+    // not supported or no attributes to copy
+    if (errno == ENOTSUP || size == 0)
+	return;
+    xattr_buf = (char*)alloc(size);
+    if (xattr_buf == NULL)
+	return;
+    size = listxattr((char *)from_file, xattr_buf, size);
+    tsize = size;
+
+    errno = 0;
+
+    for (int round = 0; round < 2; round++)
+    {
+
+	key = xattr_buf;
+	if (round == 1)
+	    size = tsize;
+
+	while (size > 0)
+	{
+	    vallen = getxattr((char *)from_file, key,
+		    val, round ? max_vallen : 0);
+	    // only set the attribute in the second round
+	    if (vallen >= 0 && round &&
+		setxattr((char *)to_file, key, val, vallen, 0) == 0)
+		;
+	    else if (errno)
+	    {
+		switch (errno)
+		{
+		    case E2BIG:
+			errmsg = e_xattr_e2big;
+			goto error_exit;
+		    case ENOTSUP:
+			errmsg = e_xattr_enotsup;
+			goto error_exit;
+		    case ERANGE:
+			errmsg = e_xattr_erange;
+			goto error_exit;
+		    default:
+			errmsg = e_xattr_other;
+			goto error_exit;
+		}
+	    }
+
+	    if (round == 0 && vallen > max_vallen)
+		max_vallen = vallen;
+
+	    // add one for terminating null
+	    keylen = STRLEN(key) + 1;
+	    size -= keylen;
+	    key += keylen;
+	}
+	if (round)
+	    break;
+
+	val = (char*)alloc(max_vallen + 1);
+	if (val == NULL)
+	    goto error_exit;
+
+    }
+error_exit:
+    vim_free(xattr_buf);
+    vim_free(val);
+
+    if (errmsg != NULL)
+	emsg((char *)errmsg);
+}
+#endif
+
 /*
  * Return a pointer to the ACL of file "fname" in allocated memory.
  * Return NULL if the ACL is not available for whatever reason.
diff --git a/src/proto/os_unix.pro b/src/proto/os_unix.pro
index c3a8483..6e13de6 100644
--- a/src/proto/os_unix.pro
+++ b/src/proto/os_unix.pro
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 int mch_setperm(char_u *name, long perm);
 int mch_fsetperm(int fd, long perm);
 void mch_copy_sec(char_u *from_file, char_u *to_file);
+void mch_copy_xattr(char_u *from_file, char_u *to_file);
 vim_acl_T mch_get_acl(char_u *fname);
 void mch_set_acl(char_u *fname, vim_acl_T aclent);
 void mch_free_acl(vim_acl_T aclent);
diff --git a/src/testdir/test_writefile.vim b/src/testdir/test_writefile.vim
index 140b2ee..a54efa7 100644
--- a/src/testdir/test_writefile.vim
+++ b/src/testdir/test_writefile.vim
@@ -977,4 +977,27 @@
   call delete('Xsomefile')
 endfunc
 
+func Test_write_with_xattr_support()
+  CheckLinux
+  CheckExecutable setfattr
+
+  let contents = ["file with xattrs", "line two"]
+  call writefile(contents, 'Xwattr.txt', 'D')
+  " write a couple of xattr
+  call system('setfattr -n user.cookie -v chocolate Xwattr.txt')
+  call system('setfattr -n user.frieda -v bar Xwattr.txt')
+  call system('setfattr -n user.empty Xwattr.txt')
+
+  set backupcopy=no writebackup& backup&
+  sp Xwattr.txt
+  w
+  $r! getfattr -d %
+  let expected = ['file with xattrs', 'line two', '# file: Xwattr.txt', 'user.cookie="chocolate"', 'user.empty=""', 'user.frieda="bar"', '']
+  call assert_equal(expected, getline(1,'$'))
+
+  set backupcopy&
+  bw!
+
+endfunc
+
 " vim: shiftwidth=2 sts=2 expandtab
diff --git a/src/version.c b/src/version.c
index 5404c02..ffa5afc 100644
--- a/src/version.c
+++ b/src/version.c
@@ -654,6 +654,11 @@
 	"-X11",
 # endif
 #endif
+# ifdef FEAT_XATTR
+	"+xattr",
+# else
+	"-xattr",
+# endif
 #ifdef FEAT_XFONTSET
 	"+xfontset",
 #else
@@ -700,6 +705,8 @@
 static int included_patches[] =
 {   /* Add new patch number below this line */
 /**/
+    1962,
+/**/
     1961,
 /**/
     1960,