From owner-cvs-all  Mon Apr  6 10:57:33 1998
Return-Path: <owner-cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG>
Received: (from majordom@localhost)
          by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id KAA25897
          for cvs-all-outgoing; Mon, 6 Apr 1998 10:57:33 -0700 (PDT)
          (envelope-from owner-cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG)
Received: from kithrup.com (kithrup.com [205.179.156.40])
          by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id KAA25858;
          Mon, 6 Apr 1998 10:57:15 -0700 (PDT)
          (envelope-from sef@kithrup.com)
Received: (from sef@localhost)
	by kithrup.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) id KAA14158;
	Mon, 6 Apr 1998 10:57:11 -0700 (PDT)
	(envelope-from sef)
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1998 10:57:11 -0700 (PDT)
From: Sean Eric Fagan <sef@kithrup.com>
Message-Id: <199804061757.KAA14158@kithrup.com>
To: peter@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/sys/kern vfs_vnops.c src/sys/sys fcntl.h
Newsgroups: kithrup.freebsd.cvs-all
In-Reply-To: <199804061738.KAA02766.kithrup.freebsd.cvs-all@freefall.freebsd.org>
Organization: Kithrup Enterprises, Ltd.
Cc: committers@FreeBSD.ORG
Sender: owner-cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG
Precedence: bulk

In article <199804061738.KAA02766.kithrup.freebsd.cvs-all@freefall.freebsd.org> you write:
>    sys/kern             vfs_vnops.c 
>    sys/sys              fcntl.h 
>  Log:
>  Implement a new open(2) flag: O_NOFOLLOW.  This will instruct open
>  to not follow symlinks, but to open a handle on the link itself(!).
>  As strange as this might sound, it has several useful applications
>  safe race-free ways of opening files in hostile areas (eg: /tmp, a mode
>  1777 /var/mail, etc).  It also would allow things like fchown() to work
>  on the link rather than having to implement a new syscall specifically for
>  that task.

This is not a good change.  Sorry.  It should be backed out.

I can think of lots of reasons -- off the top of my head, it looks like it's
going to be fairly intrusive -- but the best reason I can think of is:  we're
going to have to do a new syscall anyway, since other OSes do, and we try to
be compatible with them.  E.g., NetBSD has an lchown() system call.

Then there's the issue of standards:  lchown() and lchmod() are fairly
standard now (having first been implemented over seven years ago).  Doing it
any other way is, I am afraid, cumbersome and conflicting.


To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe cvs-all" in the body of the message