linux-ext4 - [PATCH 0/3] vfs: make immutable files actually immutable

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Date:   Thu, 28 Mar 2019 10:50:34 -0700
From:   "Darrick J. Wong" <darrick.wong@...cle.com>
To:     darrick.wong@...cle.com
Cc:     linux-xfs@...r.kernel.org, linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-ext4@...r.kernel.org, linux-btrfs@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-mm@...ck.org
Subject: [PATCH 0/3] vfs: make immutable files actually immutable

Hi all,

The chattr(1) manpage has this to say about the immutable bit that
system administrators can set on files:

"A file with the 'i' attribute cannot be modified: it cannot be deleted
or renamed, no link can be created to this file, most of the file's
metadata can not be modified, and the file can not be opened in write
mode."

Given the clause about how the file 'cannot be modified', it is
surprising that programs holding writable file descriptors can continue
to write to and truncate files after the immutable flag has been set,
but they cannot call other things such as utimes, fallocate, unlink,
link, setxattr, or reflink.

Since the immutable flag is only settable by administrators, resolve
this inconsistent behavior in favor of the documented behavior -- once
the flag is set, the file cannot be modified, period.

This has been lightly tested with fstests.  Enjoy!
Comments and questions are, as always, welcome.

--D