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* [PATCH v4 0/3] vfs: Define new syscall umask2 [formerly getumask]
@ 2016-04-13 19:05 Richard W.M. Jones
  2016-04-13 19:05 ` [PATCH v4 1/3] vfs: Define new syscall umask2 Richard W.M. Jones
                   ` (5 more replies)
  0 siblings, 6 replies; 11+ messages in thread
From: Richard W.M. Jones @ 2016-04-13 19:05 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: linux-kernel
  Cc: tglx, mingo, hpa, akpm, luto, viro, mathieu.desnoyers, zab,
	emunson, paulmck, aarcange, josh, xemul, sfr, milosz, rostedt,
	arnd, ebiederm, gorcunov, iulia.manda21, dave.hansen, mguzik,
	adobriyan, dave, linux-api, gorcunov, fw, walters

v3 -> v4:

 - Rename the syscall: getumask becomes umask2.

 - Add flags parameter, with one flag (UMASK_GET_MASK).

 - Expand the rationale for this change in the first commit message.

 - Add a selftest.

 - Retest everything.

--------------------

It's not possible to read the process umask without also modifying it,
which is what umask(2) does.  A library cannot read umask safely,
especially if the main program might be multithreaded.

This patch series adds a new system call "umask2".  This adds a flags
parameter.  Specifying flags=UMASK_GET_MASK allows the umask of the
current process to be read without modifying it.

This leaves open the possibility in future of adding a per-thread
umask, set or read with other flags.  This is not implemented.

Another approach to this has been attempted before, adding something
to /proc, although it didn't go anywhere.  See:

  http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/1292109

Another way to solve this would be to add a thread-safe getumask to
glibc.  Since glibc could own the mutex, this would permit libraries
linked to this glibc to read umask safely.  I should also note that
man-pages documents getumask(3), but no version of glibc has ever
implemented it.

Rich.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2016-04-14  9:15 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 11+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2016-04-13 19:05 [PATCH v4 0/3] vfs: Define new syscall umask2 [formerly getumask] Richard W.M. Jones
2016-04-13 19:05 ` [PATCH v4 1/3] vfs: Define new syscall umask2 Richard W.M. Jones
2016-04-13 19:05 ` [PATCH v4 2/3] x86: Wire up new umask2 system call on x86 Richard W.M. Jones
2016-04-13 19:57   ` kbuild test robot
2016-04-13 19:05 ` [PATCH v4 3/3] vfs: selftests: Add test for umask2 system call Richard W.M. Jones
2016-04-13 19:29 ` umask2 man page (was: Re: [PATCH v4 0/3] vfs: Define new syscall umask2 [formerly getumask]) Richard W.M. Jones
2016-04-13 19:37 ` [PATCH v4 0/3] vfs: Define new syscall umask2 [formerly getumask] H. Peter Anvin
2016-04-13 20:45   ` Florian Weimer
2016-04-13 20:53     ` Richard W.M. Jones
2016-04-13 23:09 ` Stephen Rothwell
2016-04-14  9:15   ` Richard W.M. Jones

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