linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 1/3] IMA: move read/write counters into struct inode

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Date:	Tue, 19 Oct 2010 10:03:48 -0700
From:	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
To:	Al Viro <viro@...iv.linux.org.uk>
Cc:	Eric Paris <eparis@...hat.com>, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-security-module@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org, hch@...radead.org, zohar@...ibm.com,
	warthog9@...nel.org, david@...morbit.com, jmorris@...ei.org,
	kyle@...artin.ca, hpa@...or.com, akpm@...ux-foundation.org,
	mingo@...e.hu
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/3] IMA: move read/write counters into struct inode

On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 9:55 AM, Al Viro <viro@...iv.linux.org.uk> wrote:
>
> a) i_writecount is about VM_DENYWRITE, basically.  Reusing it for ima could
> get unpleasant; when it's positive, we are fine, but it can get negative as
> well.  IMA will have interesting time dealing with that.
>
> b) i_count is simply a refcount for struct inode.  Not exactly the number
> of dentries, but that's the main contributor.  Basically, that's "how many
> pointers outside of inode hash chains point that that struct inode at the
> moment".

My question was deeper. More along the lines of "why would IMA care?"

How/why could IMA ever care about the pointless and trivial
differences between its current private open/read/write counts and the
counts that we already maintain?

Yes, yes, I realize that they have technical differences in what they
count. That's not the question. The question is "Why would IMA care?"

                       Linus
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