linux-kernel - Re: [patch 1/2] ptrace, security: rename ptrace_may_access => ptrace_access

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Message-Id: <20090507125526.c257c23d.akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Date:	Thu, 7 May 2009 12:55:26 -0700
From:	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>
To:	Ingo Molnar <mingo@...e.hu>
Cc:	chrisw@...s-sol.org, oleg@...hat.com, roland@...hat.com,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, viro@...IV.linux.org.uk
Subject: Re: [patch 1/2] ptrace, security: rename ptrace_may_access =>
 ptrace_access_check

On Thu, 7 May 2009 11:49:47 +0200
Ingo Molnar <mingo@...e.hu> wrote:

> The ptrace_may_access() methods are named confusingly - some 
> variants return a bool, while the security subsystem methods have a 
> retval convention.
> 
> Rename it to ptrace_access_check, to reduce the confusion factor. A 
> followup patch eliminates the bool usage.

s/may_access/access_check/ is a poor change.  The new name conveys less
information than the old one.

It's quite clear what the return value from "may_access" means.  It's
less clear what the return value from a function called "access_check"
means.

Switching to something like ptrace_task_accessible() or
ptrace_may_access_task() would be better.

This happens quite often.  The string "check" in the name of a
predicate function is a red flag.
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