Get involved in the KSPP

Get involved in the KSPP

[Oscar Carter]

Hi, my name is Oscar. I would like to get involved in the kernel self protection
project because I love the software security and I think this is one of the most
challenging fields.

I have experience in microcrontrollers and working with low level software, but
my experience with the linux kernel development is a few commits in the staging
area.

For now, and due to my low experience with the linux kernel code and software
security, I do not care about the area and task to be done. What I pretend is to
help this great community and improve my knowledge and skills in this
challenging field.

So, I would like to know if I can be assigned to some task that suits me. I've
taken a look at https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues but I don't know which task
to choose and if someone else is working on it.

Thanks,

Oscar Carter

Re: Get involved in the KSPP

[Kees Cook]

On Sat, May 09, 2020 at 02:20:08PM +0200, Oscar Carter wrote:
> Hi, my name is Oscar. I would like to get involved in the kernel self protection
> project because I love the software security and I think this is one of the most
> challenging fields.

Hi Oscar! Welcome to the mailing list. :)

> I have experience in microcrontrollers and working with low level software, but
> my experience with the linux kernel development is a few commits in the staging
> area.
> 
> For now, and due to my low experience with the linux kernel code and software
> security, I do not care about the area and task to be done. What I pretend is to
> help this great community and improve my knowledge and skills in this
> challenging field.
> 
> So, I would like to know if I can be assigned to some task that suits me. I've
> taken a look at https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues but I don't know which task
> to choose and if someone else is working on it.

There's "good first issue" label that might help you choose things:
https://github.com/KSPP/linux/labels/good%20first%20issue

One mostly mechanical bit of work would be this:
https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/20
There are likely more fixes needed to build the kernel with
-Wcast-function-type (especially on non-x86 kernels). So that would let
you learn about cross-compiling, etc.

Let us know what you think!

Take care,

-- 
Kees Cook

Re: Get involved in the KSPP

[Oscar Carter]

On Mon, May 11, 2020 at 09:15:18AM -0700, Kees Cook wrote:
> On Sat, May 09, 2020 at 02:20:08PM +0200, Oscar Carter wrote:
> > Hi, my name is Oscar. I would like to get involved in the kernel self protection
> > project because I love the software security and I think this is one of the most
> > challenging fields.
>
> Hi Oscar! Welcome to the mailing list. :)

Hi, thanks for the welcome.

> > I have experience in microcrontrollers and working with low level software, but
> > my experience with the linux kernel development is a few commits in the staging
> > area.
> >
> > For now, and due to my low experience with the linux kernel code and software
> > security, I do not care about the area and task to be done. What I pretend is to
> > help this great community and improve my knowledge and skills in this
> > challenging field.
> >
> > So, I would like to know if I can be assigned to some task that suits me. I've
> > taken a look at https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues but I don't know which task
> > to choose and if someone else is working on it.
>
> There's "good first issue" label that might help you choose things:
> https://github.com/KSPP/linux/labels/good%20first%20issue

I saw it, but even so it's difficult to me to choose with my knowledge about
this field. Sorry.

> One mostly mechanical bit of work would be this:
> https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/20
> There are likely more fixes needed to build the kernel with
> -Wcast-function-type (especially on non-x86 kernels). So that would let
> you learn about cross-compiling, etc.
>
> Let us know what you think!

Great. This task seems good to me. I'm already working on it but I would like to
know if it's correct to compile my work against the master branch of Linus tree
or if there is some other better branch and tree.

> Take care,
>
> --
> Kees Cook

Thanks for your advices and comments.

Oscar Carter

Re: Get involved in the KSPP

[Kees Cook]

On Thu, May 14, 2020 at 07:20:37PM +0200, Oscar Carter wrote:
> On Mon, May 11, 2020 at 09:15:18AM -0700, Kees Cook wrote:
> > One mostly mechanical bit of work would be this:
> > https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/20
> > There are likely more fixes needed to build the kernel with
> > -Wcast-function-type (especially on non-x86 kernels). So that would let
> > you learn about cross-compiling, etc.
> >
> > Let us know what you think!
> 
> Great. This task seems good to me. I'm already working on it but I would like to
> know if it's correct to compile my work against the master branch of Linus tree
> or if there is some other better branch and tree.

For doing these kinds of things I tend to recommend either the last
full release from Linus (e.g. v5.6) or, if you want, the latest -rc2
(e.g. v5.7-rc2). Both are tagged, so you can based your tree on them
easily:

$ git clone ....
$ git checkout v5.7-rc2 -b devel/cast-function-type
$ *do stuff, etc*

-- 
Kees Cook

Re: Get involved in the KSPP

[Oscar Carter]

On Fri, May 15, 2020 at 01:27:32AM -0700, Kees Cook wrote:
> On Thu, May 14, 2020 at 07:20:37PM +0200, Oscar Carter wrote:
> > On Mon, May 11, 2020 at 09:15:18AM -0700, Kees Cook wrote:
> > > One mostly mechanical bit of work would be this:
> > > https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/20
> > > There are likely more fixes needed to build the kernel with
> > > -Wcast-function-type (especially on non-x86 kernels). So that would let
> > > you learn about cross-compiling, etc.
> > >
> > > Let us know what you think!
> >
> > Great. This task seems good to me. I'm already working on it but I would like to
> > know if it's correct to compile my work against the master branch of Linus tree
> > or if there is some other better branch and tree.
>
> For doing these kinds of things I tend to recommend either the last
> full release from Linus (e.g. v5.6) or, if you want, the latest -rc2
> (e.g. v5.7-rc2). Both are tagged, so you can based your tree on them
> easily:
>
> $ git clone ....
> $ git checkout v5.7-rc2 -b devel/cast-function-type
> $ *do stuff, etc*

Thanks for the clarification.

> --
> Kees Cook

Regards.

Oscar Carter