Linux cryptographic layer development
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From: Jarkko Sakkinen <jarkko@kernel.org>
To: David Howells <dhowells@redhat.com>
Cc: keyrings@vger.kernel.org, Eric Biggers <ebiggers@kernel.org>,
	Jarkko Sakkinen <jarkko@kernel.org>,
	Lukas Wunner <lukas@wunner.de>, Ignat Korchagin <ignat@linux.win>,
	Herbert Xu <herbert@gondor.apana.org.au>,
	"David S. Miller" <davem@davemloft.net>,
	linux-crypto@vger.kernel.org (open list:ASYMMETRIC KEYS),
	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org (open list),
	bpf@vger.kernel.org (open list:BPF
	[MISC]:Keyword:(?:\b|_)bpf(?:\b|_))
Subject: [PATCH v4 0/3] KEYS: Replace assoc_array with rhashtable
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2026 01:24:08 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20261029232437.2581640-1-jarkko@kernel.org> (raw)

The keyring subsystem depends on assoc_array for searching keys by their
description, type and domain. It is the sole user of this data structure,
which has during the age of LLMs transformed into a maintenance nightmare.

assoc_array needs to be replaced with a data structure meeting the
following criteria:

1. Must be suitable for a sparse key-value store.
2. Must have multiple in-kernel users.
3. Would be nice if it had dedicated maintainers.

rhashtable is likely the best pick from the available options as it is
designed for a sparse key space, has dedicated maintainers, and multiple
in-kernel users.

CHANGES
=======

v4:
- Eric Biggers: Correct the kerneldoc summary for keyring_is_empty().
- Eric Biggers: Truncate keyring_index_key hash to u32 and drop index_id.
- Eric Biggers, David Howells: Use a proper struct instead of a two-element
  array to pass the edits.
- Eric Biggers: __keyring_link(): Call key_put() in the rollback of
  rhashtable_replace_fast().
- Eric Biggers: Retract from using __free(kfree) in keyring_get_index().
- Eric Biggers: Reuse keyring_link_key() in keyring_obj_cmpfn().
- Eric Biggers: Document why keyring_index_free() uses queue_rcu_work().
- Eric Biggers: Fix the commit message for "KEYS: Replace assoc_array with
  rhashtable commit message".

v3:
- Since David is away for the next week I decided to address the
  low hanging fruit that I reported myself.
- Unified and sanitized function and variable naming and removed
  unnecessary asymmetry e.g., by renaming keyring_remove_all_links
  as keyring_index_free, 'links' as 'index' and '_edit' as 'edit'.
- Flattened the implementation by refactoring out some useless
  wrappers and other constructs.
- Addressed continuation after triggered WARN_ON() on at the three
  sites that I've described in my email response to the previous
  patch set version.
- Reworked keyring_read() so that it triggers the scheduler between
  the iterations.
- Dropped "Assisted-by: LLM" tag because checkpatch.pl told me so.

v2:
- Tried to address all the issues pointed out by David and Eric. Tell me
  if something was ignored, as that would be an unintentional mishap.
- Updated and trimmed the source code comments.
- For assoc_array_edit I decided to go with two-element pointer array,
  which shifts a bit what David suggested.
- Dropped is_keyring flag. It was so obvious call so I mention it here
  just in case because too obvious maxes out my self-doubt ;-)
- Used cleanup.h primitives where I possibly could especially in order
  to make fallible initializations more bug-resistant.
- The already-ack'd bug fixes are included but will be dropped as soon
  as I've sent them over to Linus.

VERSIONS
========

- v3: https://lore.kernel.org/keyrings/20261025001105.1824178-1-jarkko@kernel.org/
- v2: https://lore.kernel.org/keyrings/20261023120953.1206778-1-jarkko@kernel.org/
- v1: https://lore.kernel.org/keyrings/20261016215326.4110064-1-jarkko@kernel.org/

Jarkko Sakkinen (3):
  KEYS: Introduce keyring_is_empty()
  KEYS: Replace assoc_array with rhashtable
  lib: Remove assoc_array

 Documentation/core-api/assoc_array.rst        |  564 ------
 Documentation/core-api/index.rst              |    1 -
 .../zh_CN/core-api/assoc_array.rst            |  473 -----
 .../translations/zh_CN/core-api/index.rst     |    1 -
 drivers/md/dm-verity-verify-sig.c             |    2 +-
 fs/verity/signature.c                         |    2 +-
 include/keys/keyring-type.h                   |    1 -
 include/linux/assoc_array.h                   |   88 -
 include/linux/assoc_array_priv.h              |  178 --
 include/linux/key-type.h                      |    1 -
 include/linux/key.h                           |   29 +-
 kernel/bpf/keys.c                             |    2 +-
 lib/Kconfig                                   |   14 -
 lib/Makefile                                  |    1 -
 lib/assoc_array.c                             | 1724 -----------------
 security/keys/Kconfig                         |    1 -
 security/keys/internal.h                      |   14 +-
 security/keys/key.c                           |   22 +-
 security/keys/keyring.c                       |  977 ++++------
 security/keys/request_key.c                   |    8 +-
 .../dm-verity/test-dm-verity-keyring.sh       |    2 +-
 21 files changed, 462 insertions(+), 3643 deletions(-)
 delete mode 100644 Documentation/core-api/assoc_array.rst
 delete mode 100644 Documentation/translations/zh_CN/core-api/assoc_array.rst
 delete mode 100644 include/linux/assoc_array.h
 delete mode 100644 include/linux/assoc_array_priv.h
 delete mode 100644 lib/assoc_array.c

--
2.47.3


             reply	other threads:[~2026-10-29 23:24 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 4+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-10-29 23:24 Jarkko Sakkinen [this message]
2026-10-29 23:24 ` [PATCH v4 1/3] KEYS: Introduce keyring_is_empty() Jarkko Sakkinen
2026-10-29 23:24 ` [PATCH v4 2/3] KEYS: Replace assoc_array with rhashtable Jarkko Sakkinen
2026-10-29 23:24 ` [PATCH v4 3/3] lib: Remove assoc_array Jarkko Sakkinen

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