linux-kernel - Re: Official Linux system wrapper library?

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Message-ID: <877ehfdgzn.fsf@oldenburg.str.redhat.com>
Date:   Wed, 14 Nov 2018 12:40:44 +0100
From:   Florian Weimer <fweimer@...hat.com>
To:     Dave Martin <Dave.Martin@....com>
Cc:     Andy Lutomirski <luto@...capital.net>,
        Daniel Colascione <dancol@...gle.com>,
        "Michael Kerrisk \(man-pages\)" <mtk.manpages@...il.com>,
        linux-kernel <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        Joel Fernandes <joelaf@...gle.com>,
        Linux API <linux-api@...r.kernel.org>,
        Willy Tarreau <w@....eu>, Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>,
        Carlos O'Donell <carlos@...hat.com>,
        "libc-alpha\@sourceware.org" <libc-alpha@...rceware.org>
Subject: Re: Official Linux system wrapper library?

* Dave Martin:

> Fair points, though this is rather what I meant by "sane essentials".
> Because there are strict limits on what can be done in the vDSO, it may
> be more bloat-resistant and more conservatively maintained.
>
> This might provide a way to push some dumb compatibility kludge code
> that receives little ongoing maintenance outside the privilege wall,
> whereas it has to sit in the kernel proper today.
>
> In theory we could opt to advertise new syscalls only via vDSO entry
> points, and not maintain __NR_xxx values for them (which may or may
> not upset ptrace users.)  Anyway, I digress...

Is the vDSO available across all architectures?  (I don't think we use
it on all architectures in glibc.)

If not, a vDSO-based approach would merely lead to even more variance
between architectures, which can't be a good thing.

Thanks,
Florian