diff --git a/kmod/src/sysfs.c b/kmod/src/sysfs.c
index f043481e..7848e039 100644
--- a/kmod/src/sysfs.c
+++ b/kmod/src/sysfs.c
@@ -103,6 +103,89 @@ static void kobj_del_put_wait(struct kobject *kobj, struct completion *comp)
 #define shutdown_kobj(sfinfo, _name) \
 	kobj_del_put_wait(&sfsinfo->_name##_kobj, &sfsinfo->_name##_comp)
 
+static void scoutfs_sysfs_release(struct kobject *kobj)
+{
+	DECLARE_SCOUTFS_SYSFS_ATTRS(ssa, kobj);
+
+	complete(&ssa->comp);
+}
+
+void scoutfs_sysfs_init_attrs(struct super_block *sb,
+			      struct scoutfs_sysfs_attrs *ssa)
+{
+	ssa->name = NULL;
+}
+
+/*
+ *  If this returns success then the file will be visible and show can
+ *  be called until unmount.
+ */
+int scoutfs_sysfs_create_attrs(struct super_block *sb,
+			       struct scoutfs_sysfs_attrs *ssa,
+			       struct attribute **attrs, char *fmt, ...)
+{
+	va_list args;
+	size_t name_len;
+	size_t size;
+	int ret;
+
+	/* ssa should have seen init or destroy */
+	if (WARN_ON_ONCE(ssa->name != NULL))
+		return -EINVAL;
+
+	ssa->sb = sb;
+	init_completion(&ssa->comp);
+	ssa->ktype.default_attrs = attrs;
+	ssa->ktype.sysfs_ops = &kobj_sysfs_ops;
+	ssa->ktype.release = scoutfs_sysfs_release;
+
+	va_start(args, fmt);
+	name_len = vsnprintf(NULL, 0, fmt, args);
+	va_end(args);
+	if (WARN_ON_ONCE(name_len < 1 || name_len > NAME_MAX)) {
+		ret = -EINVAL;
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	size = name_len + 1; /* with null */
+
+	ssa->name = kmalloc(size, GFP_KERNEL);
+	if (!ssa->name) {
+		ret = -ENOMEM;
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	va_start(args, fmt);
+	ret = vsnprintf(ssa->name, size, fmt, args);
+	va_end(args);
+	if (ret != name_len) {
+		ret = -EINVAL;
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	ret = kobject_init_and_add(&ssa->kobj, &ssa->ktype,
+				   scoutfs_sysfs_sb_dir(sb), "%s", ssa->name);
+out:
+	if (ret) {
+		kfree(ssa->name);
+		ssa->name = NULL;
+	}
+
+	return ret;
+}
+
+void scoutfs_sysfs_destroy_attrs(struct super_block *sb,
+				 struct scoutfs_sysfs_attrs *ssa)
+{
+	if (ssa->name) {
+		kobject_del(&ssa->kobj);
+		kobject_put(&ssa->kobj);
+		wait_for_completion(&ssa->comp);
+		kfree(ssa->name);
+		ssa->name = NULL;
+	}
+}
+
 /*
  * Only the return from kobj_init_and_add() tells us if the kobj needs
  * to be cleaned up or not.  This must manually clean up the kobjs and
diff --git a/kmod/src/sysfs.h b/kmod/src/sysfs.h
index 0d94b3a4..2f8f1087 100644
--- a/kmod/src/sysfs.h
+++ b/kmod/src/sysfs.h
@@ -1,6 +1,43 @@
 #ifndef _SCOUTFS_SYSFS_H_
 #define _SCOUTFS_SYSFS_H_
 
+/*
+ * We have some light wrappers around sysfs attributes to make it safe
+ * to tear down the attributes before freeing the data they describe.
+ */
+
+#define SCOUTFS_ATTR_RO(_name)						\
+        static struct kobj_attribute scoutfs_attr_##_name = __ATTR_RO(_name)
+
+#define SCOUTFS_ATTR_PTR(_name)						\
+        &scoutfs_attr_##_name.attr
+
+struct scoutfs_sysfs_attrs {
+	struct super_block *sb;
+	char *name;
+	struct completion comp;
+
+	struct kobject kobj;
+	struct kobj_type ktype;
+};
+
+#define SCOUTFS_SYSFS_ATTRS(kobj)					\
+	container_of(kobj, struct scoutfs_sysfs_attrs, kobj)
+
+#define SCOUTFS_SYSFS_ATTRS_SB(kobj)					\
+	(SCOUTFS_SYSFS_ATTRS(kobj)->sb)
+
+#define DECLARE_SCOUTFS_SYSFS_ATTRS(name, kobj)				\
+	struct scoutfs_sysfs_attrs *ssa = SCOUTFS_SYSFS_ATTRS(kobj)
+
+void scoutfs_sysfs_init_attrs(struct super_block *sb,
+			      struct scoutfs_sysfs_attrs *ssa);
+int scoutfs_sysfs_create_attrs(struct super_block *sb,
+			       struct scoutfs_sysfs_attrs *ssa,
+			       struct attribute **attrs, char *fmt, ...);
+void scoutfs_sysfs_destroy_attrs(struct super_block *sb,
+				 struct scoutfs_sysfs_attrs *ssa);
+
 struct kobject *scoutfs_sysfs_sb_dir(struct super_block *sb);
 
 int scoutfs_setup_sysfs(struct super_block *sb);