Date:   Fri, 21 Feb 2020 12:21:42 +1100
From:   Aleksa Sarai <cyphar@...har.com>
To:     Ross Zwisler <zwisler@...gle.com>
Cc:     David Howells <dhowells@...hat.com>,
        Matthew Wilcox <willy@...radead.org>,
        Raul Rangel <rrangel@...gle.com>,
        linux-kernel <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        Mattias Nissler <mnissler@...omium.org>,
        Alexander Viro <viro@...iv.linux.org.uk>,
        linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org,
        Benjamin Gordon <bmgordon@...gle.com>,
        Micah Morton <mortonm@...gle.com>,
        Dmitry Torokhov <dtor@...gle.com>, Jan Kara <jack@...e.cz>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v5] Add a "nosymfollow" mount option.

On 2020-02-13, Ross Zwisler <zwisler@...gle.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 06, 2020 at 12:10:45PM -0700, Ross Zwisler wrote:
> > On Tue, Feb 4, 2020 at 8:45 PM Aleksa Sarai <cyphar@...har.com> wrote:
> > > On 2020-02-04, Matthew Wilcox <willy@...radead.org> wrote:
> > > > On Tue, Feb 04, 2020 at 04:49:48PM -0700, Ross Zwisler wrote:
> > > > > On Tue, Feb 4, 2020 at 3:11 PM Ross Zwisler <zwisler@...omium.org> wrote:
> > > > > > On Tue, Feb 4, 2020 at 2:53 PM Raul Rangel <rrangel@...gle.com> wrote:
> > > > > > > > --- a/include/uapi/linux/mount.h
> > > > > > > > +++ b/include/uapi/linux/mount.h
> > > > > > > > @@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
> > > > > > > >  #define MS_I_VERSION   (1<<23) /* Update inode I_version field */
> > > > > > > >  #define MS_STRICTATIME (1<<24) /* Always perform atime updates */
> > > > > > > >  #define MS_LAZYTIME    (1<<25) /* Update the on-disk [acm]times lazily */
> > > > > > > > +#define MS_NOSYMFOLLOW (1<<26) /* Do not follow symlinks */
> > > > > > > Doesn't this conflict with MS_SUBMOUNT below?
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > >  /* These sb flags are internal to the kernel */
> > > > > > > >  #define MS_SUBMOUNT     (1<<26)
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Yep.  Thanks for the catch, v6 on it's way.
> > > > >
> > > > > It actually looks like most of the flags which are internal to the
> > > > > kernel are actually unused (MS_SUBMOUNT, MS_NOREMOTELOCK, MS_NOSEC,
> > > > > MS_BORN and MS_ACTIVE).  Several are unused completely, and the rest
> > > > > are just part of the AA_MS_IGNORE_MASK which masks them off in the
> > > > > apparmor LSM, but I'm pretty sure they couldn't have been set anyway.
> > > > >
> > > > > I'll just take over (1<<26) for MS_NOSYMFOLLOW, and remove the rest in
> > > > > a second patch.
> > > > >
> > > > > If someone thinks these flags are actually used by something and I'm
> > > > > just missing it, please let me know.
> > > >
> > > > Afraid you did miss it ...
> > > >
> > > > /*
> > > >  * sb->s_flags.  Note that these mirror the equivalent MS_* flags where
> > > >  * represented in both.
> > > >  */
> > > > ...
> > > > #define SB_SUBMOUNT     (1<<26)
> > > >
> > > > It's not entirely clear to me why they need to be the same, but I haven't
> > > > been paying close attention to the separation of superblock and mount
> > > > flags, so someone else can probably explain the why of it.
> > >
> > > I could be wrong, but I believe this is historic and originates from the
> > > kernel setting certain flags internally (similar to the whole O_* flag,
> > > "internal" O_* flag, and FMODE_NOTIFY mixup).
> > >
> > > Also, one of the arguments for the new mount API was that we'd run out
> > > MS_* bits so it's possible that you have to enable this new mount option
> > > in the new mount API only. (Though Howells is the right person to talk
> > > to on this point.)
> > 
> > As far as I can tell, SB_SUBMOUNT doesn't actually have any dependence on
> > MS_SUBMOUNT. Nothing ever sets or checks MS_SUBMOUNT from within the kernel,
> > and whether or not it's set from userspace has no bearing on how SB_SUBMOUNT
> > is used.  SB_SUBMOUNT is set independently inside of the kernel in
> > vfs_submount().
> > 
> > I agree that their association seems to be historical, introduced in this
> > commit from David Howells:
> > 
> > e462ec50cb5fa VFS: Differentiate mount flags (MS_*) from internal superblock flags
> > 
> > In that commit message David notes:
> > 
> >      (1) Some MS_* flags get translated to MNT_* flags (such as MS_NODEV ->
> >          MNT_NODEV) without passing this on to the filesystem, but some
> >          filesystems set such flags anyway.
> > 
> > I think this is sort of what we are trying to do with MS_NOSYMFOLLOW: have a
> > userspace flag that translates to MNT_NOSYMFOLLOW, but which doesn't need an
> > associated SB_* flag.  Is it okay to reclaim the bit currently owned by
> > MS_SUBMOUNT and use it for MS_NOSYMFOLLOW.
> > 
> > A second option would be to choose one of the unused MS_* values from the
> > middle of the range, such as 256 or 512.  Looking back as far as git will let
> > me, I don't think that these flags have been used for MS_* values at least
> > since v2.6.12:
> > 
> > https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/include/linux/fs.h?id=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2
> > 
> > I think maybe these used to be S_WRITE and S_APPEND, which weren't filesystem
> > mount flags?
> > 
> > https://sites.uclouvain.be/SystInfo/usr/include/sys/mount.h.html
> > 
> > A third option would be to create this flag using the new mount system:
> > 
> > https://lwn.net/Articles/753473/
> > https://lwn.net/Articles/759499/
> > 
> > My main concern with this option is that for Chrome OS we'd like to be able to
> > backport whatever solution we come up with to a variety of older kernels, and
> > if we go with the new mount system this would require us to backport the
> > entire new mount system to those kernels, which I think is infeasible.  
> > 
> > David, what are your thoughts on this?  Of these three options for supporting
> > a new MS_NOSYMFOLLOW flag:
> > 
> > 1) reclaim the bit currently used by MS_SUBMOUNT
> > 2) use a smaller unused value for the flag, 256 or 512
> > 3) implement the new flag only in the new mount system
> > 
> > do you think either #1 or #2 are workable?  If so, which would you prefer?
> 
> Gentle ping on this - do either of the options using the existing mount API
> seem possible?  Would it be useful for me to send out example patches in one
> of those directions?  Or is it out of the question, and I should spend my time
> on making patches using the new mount system?  Thanks!

I think (1) or (2) sound reasonable, but I'm not really the right person
to ask.

-- 
Aleksa Sarai
Senior Software Engineer (Containers)
SUSE Linux GmbH
<https://www.cyphar.com/>

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