Re: what's next for the linux kernel?

[Bodo Eggert <7eggert@gmx.de>]

On Wed, 5 Oct 2005, Marc Perkel wrote:

> What you don't get is that if you don't have rights to write to a file 
> then you shouldn't have the right to delete the file.

In unix, nobody but the kernel has the right to *delete* a file. Therefore 
nobody can delete a file without write permission.

Files are deleted if the last reference is gone. If you play a music file
and unlink it while it's playing, it won't be deleted untill the player
closes the file, since an open filehandle is a reference.


If you like, you can think of it as a kind of instant garbage collection:

Files are the objects referenced by these lists, and if you own 
the object, you can change it. However, as long as there is a reference, 
you can't destroy it, since this would invalidate all references.
Instead, you must remove all references.

Directories are lists of references, and these lists are independent from
the referenced file-objects. If you own the list, you can change it by 
adding or removing files. You can even link files not owned or accessable 
by you:

7eggert@be1:~/tmp > ls -l /tmp/foo/foo
----------    1 7eggert_b users           0 2005-10-05 22:32 /tmp/foo/foo
7eggert@be1:~/tmp > ln /tmp/foo/foo .
7eggert@be1:~/tmp > ls -l
total 0
----------    2 7eggert_b users           0 2005-10-05 22:32 foo
<snip>

Do you notice the link count in the second column?

Let's remove a link:

<snip>
*switch*
7eggert_b@be1:/tmp/foo> rm foo
rm: remove write-protected regular empty file `foo'? y
*switch*
7eggert@be1:~/tmp > ls -l
total 0
----------    1 7eggert_b users           0 2005-10-05 22:32 foo
<snip>

As you can see, each directory-owner can independantly unlink the file.

BTW: The owner can change the permissions on the linked file anytime, so
even if you couldn't link non-accessable files, you could end up with
entries in your private directory you could neither access nor delete.


I can also open the file as 7eggert_b, delete it from another tty and 
still access it's contents:

<snip>
7eggert_b@be1:/tmp/foo> cat > foo
as
*switch*
be1:/home/7eggert/tmp # rm /tmp/foo/foo
be1:/home/7eggert/tmp # ll /proc/4820/fd/1
l-wx------    1 7eggert_b users          64 Oct  5 22:43 /proc/4820/fd/1 
-> /tmp/foo/foo (deleted)
be1:/home/7eggert/tmp # cat /proc/4820/fd/1
as
*switch*
df
be1:/home/7eggert/tmp # cat /proc/4820/fd/1
as
df
<snip>

As you can see, the directory entry is deleted, but the file is still
there. However, making a hard link from a /proc/pid/fd entry is not (yet?)
possible: "ln: creating hard link `baz' to `/proc/4927/fd/1':  Invalid
cross-device link".


-- 
Fun things to slip into your budget
Not in a budget, but in an annual report:
An employee stole 500,000+. They accounted for it on the annual report as
'involountary employee relations expense'
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