linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 2/2] block: create ioctl to discard-or-zeroout a range of blocks

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Date:	Sat, 12 Mar 2016 02:19:45 -0500
From:	Theodore Ts'o <tytso@....edu>
To:	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
Cc:	Dave Chinner <david@...morbit.com>,
	Andy Lutomirski <luto@...capital.net>,
	One Thousand Gnomes <gnomes@...rguk.ukuu.org.uk>,
	Ric Wheeler <rwheeler@...hat.com>,
	Gregory Farnum <greg@...gs42.com>,
	"Martin K. Petersen" <martin.petersen@...cle.com>,
	Christoph Hellwig <hch@...radead.org>,
	"Darrick J. Wong" <darrick.wong@...cle.com>,
	Jens Axboe <axboe@...nel.dk>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
	Linux API <linux-api@...r.kernel.org>,
	Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	shane.seymour@....com, Bruce Fields <bfields@...ldses.org>,
	linux-fsdevel <linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Jeff Layton <jlayton@...chiereds.net>,
	Eric Sandeen <esandeen@...hat.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/2] block: create ioctl to discard-or-zeroout a range of
 blocks

On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 04:44:16PM -0800, Linus Torvalds wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 4:35 PM, Theodore Ts'o <tytso@....edu> wrote:
> >
> > At the end of the day it's about whether you trust the userspace
> > program or not.
> 
> There's a big difference between "give the user rope", and "tie the
> rope in a noose and put a banana peel so that the user might stumble
> into the rope and hang himself", though.

So let's see.  The user application has to explicitly request
NO_HIDE_STALE via an fallocate flag --- so it requires changing the
source code and recompiling the application.  And then, the system
administrator has to pass in a mount option specifying a group that
the application has to run under.  And then the application has to run
setgid with that group's privileges.

I hardly think that can be considered handing the user a pre-tied
noose.

Sure, the application can do something stupid --- but I'd arguing
giving root to some junior sysadmin is far more likely to cause
problems.

Cheers,

						- Ted