From: Christoph Hellwig <hch@lst.de> To: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>, Alexander Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk> Cc: linux-api@vger.kernel.org, linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, libc-alpha@sourceware.org Subject: RFC: reject unknown open flags Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2017 18:33:25 +0200 [thread overview] Message-ID: <20170330163327.23920-1-hch@lst.de> (raw) Linux has traditionally accepted random garbage in the flags argument to the open syscall (including the later added openat). This really harms when adding new flags, because applications can't just probe for the flag to actually work. While rejecting unknown flags is an ABI change strictly speaking I can't see what would actually get broken by it in practice, so by the Linux rules it might not be an issue. Below is the trivial series to reject unknown flags. If this is not acceptable there migh be some other ways, although they seem ugly: (a) add a new openat2 system call that enforces this behavior, and hope all majors libcs switch to using that by default to implement open(3). (b) add a new personality flag to enforce this behavior (or maybe opt in by default and allow admins to opt out of it)
WARNING: multiple messages have this Message-ID (diff)
From: Christoph Hellwig <hch-jcswGhMUV9g@public.gmane.org> To: Linus Torvalds <torvalds-de/tnXTf+JLsfHDXvbKv3WD2FQJk+8+b@public.gmane.org>, Alexander Viro <viro-RmSDqhL/yNMiFSDQTTA3OLVCufUGDwFn@public.gmane.org> Cc: linux-api-u79uwXL29TY76Z2rM5mHXA@public.gmane.org, linux-fsdevel-u79uwXL29TY76Z2rM5mHXA@public.gmane.org, linux-kernel-u79uwXL29TY76Z2rM5mHXA@public.gmane.org, libc-alpha-9JcytcrH/bA+uJoB2kUjGw@public.gmane.org Subject: RFC: reject unknown open flags Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2017 18:33:25 +0200 [thread overview] Message-ID: <20170330163327.23920-1-hch@lst.de> (raw) Linux has traditionally accepted random garbage in the flags argument to the open syscall (including the later added openat). This really harms when adding new flags, because applications can't just probe for the flag to actually work. While rejecting unknown flags is an ABI change strictly speaking I can't see what would actually get broken by it in practice, so by the Linux rules it might not be an issue. Below is the trivial series to reject unknown flags. If this is not acceptable there migh be some other ways, although they seem ugly: (a) add a new openat2 system call that enforces this behavior, and hope all majors libcs switch to using that by default to implement open(3). (b) add a new personality flag to enforce this behavior (or maybe opt in by default and allow admins to opt out of it)
next reply other threads:[~2017-03-30 16:33 UTC|newest] Thread overview: 20+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top 2017-03-30 16:33 Christoph Hellwig [this message] 2017-03-30 16:33 ` RFC: reject unknown open flags Christoph Hellwig 2017-03-30 16:33 ` [PATCH 1/2] fs: add a VALID_OPEN_FLAGS Christoph Hellwig 2017-03-30 16:33 ` [PATCH 2/2] fs: reject unknown open flags Christoph Hellwig 2017-03-30 17:03 ` Linus Torvalds 2017-03-30 17:03 ` Linus Torvalds 2017-03-30 17:08 ` RFC: " Linus Torvalds 2017-03-30 17:08 ` Linus Torvalds 2017-03-30 17:21 ` Christoph Hellwig 2017-03-30 17:21 ` Christoph Hellwig 2017-03-30 18:19 ` Linus Torvalds 2017-03-30 18:19 ` Linus Torvalds 2017-03-30 18:26 ` Christoph Hellwig 2017-03-30 18:26 ` Christoph Hellwig 2017-03-30 18:45 ` Linus Torvalds 2017-03-30 18:45 ` Linus Torvalds 2017-03-30 20:05 ` Boaz Harrosh 2017-03-30 19:02 ` Paul Eggert 2017-03-30 19:14 ` Linus Torvalds 2017-03-30 19:22 ` Florian Weimer
Reply instructions: You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email using any one of the following methods: * Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client, and reply-to-all from there: mbox Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style * Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to switches of git-send-email(1): git send-email \ --in-reply-to=20170330163327.23920-1-hch@lst.de \ --to=hch@lst.de \ --cc=libc-alpha@sourceware.org \ --cc=linux-api@vger.kernel.org \ --cc=linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org \ --cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \ --cc=torvalds@linux-foundation.org \ --cc=viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk \ /path/to/YOUR_REPLY https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html * If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header via mailto: links, try the mailto: linkBe sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body.
This is an external index of several public inboxes, see mirroring instructions on how to clone and mirror all data and code used by this external index.