linux-kernel - Re: Does inotify work with special files such as /proc/<pid>/task/<tid>/children?

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Message-ID: <20140928194407.3a584b78@as>
Date:	Sun, 28 Sep 2014 19:44:07 -0500
From:	Chuck Ebbert <cebbert.lkml@...il.com>
To:	Al Viro <viro@...IV.linux.org.uk>
Cc:	Steven Stewart-Gallus <sstewartgallus00@...angara.bc.ca>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: Does inotify work with special files such as
 /proc/<pid>/task/<tid>/children?

On Mon, 29 Sep 2014 00:12:40 +0100
Al Viro <viro@...IV.linux.org.uk> wrote:

> On Sun, Sep 28, 2014 at 11:09:50PM +0000, Steven Stewart-Gallus wrote:
> > Hello,
> > 
> > I can't seem to get inotify to work with special files such as
> > /proc/<pid>/task/<tid>/children? I just need to get a simple yes/no
> > answer on whether it works for special files or whether I have to try
> > a different approach.
> 
> Simple answer: No.  Slightly more expanded one: No, and it won't.
> Inotify does not work on procfs, sysfs, etc.  Doesn't work on
> network filesystems either.  Don't use it.  It was a mistake in the
> first place.

Why was inotify a mistake? Was it badly implemented, or is the whole
concept of userspace being able to monitor filesystem changes
basically impossible to do correctly?
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@...r.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/