From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.0 (2014-02-07) on aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.3 required=3.0 tests=DKIM_INVALID,DKIM_SIGNED, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,MAILING_LIST_MULTI,SPF_PASS,USER_AGENT_MUTT autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.0 Received: from mail.kernel.org (mail.kernel.org [198.145.29.99]) by smtp.lore.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BE1CDC43381 for ; Tue, 5 Mar 2019 12:22:34 +0000 (UTC) Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [209.132.180.67]) by mail.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8E50F2082C for ; Tue, 5 Mar 2019 12:22:34 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: mail.kernel.org; dkim=fail reason="signature verification failed" (2048-bit key) header.d=infradead.org header.i=@infradead.org header.b="a3WIi8Vk" Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1728103AbfCEMW3 (ORCPT ); Tue, 5 Mar 2019 07:22:29 -0500 Received: from bombadil.infradead.org ([198.137.202.133]:37436 "EHLO bombadil.infradead.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1726150AbfCEMW3 (ORCPT ); Tue, 5 Mar 2019 07:22:29 -0500 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; q=dns/txt; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=infradead.org; s=bombadil.20170209; h=In-Reply-To:Content-Type:MIME-Version :References:Message-ID:Subject:Cc:To:From:Date:Sender:Reply-To: Content-Transfer-Encoding:Content-ID:Content-Description:Resent-Date: Resent-From:Resent-Sender:Resent-To:Resent-Cc:Resent-Message-ID:List-Id: List-Help:List-Unsubscribe:List-Subscribe:List-Post:List-Owner:List-Archive; bh=MPzhpscRytauqY0bU3jX+4ZTH08+VsYn8KiNXzLTaiM=; b=a3WIi8Vk7YTP592YxSJko+5QR CUk3vJtDPSlgnu3MFIv27SF9qks7+gzam6nHCfuytMgojFyZG8H9UGkW1ZFE3gAysnJTdVNchTb/O NhiHy4RIqLsUTys+3VvmOs2DQWwOfPOBJf4yyDUCGscVS8nboUFZgecnRxhWZEDNxPY8A1GVR0ERR MGEIXrbUBeRfHITHDhRFUD/QVy33VM4ujnlAkBY/tM7v9tql+i0jSWcL9I5nPYv9GnJqyWAOanNqX eAfueoBCQCJNFcFWu0i9xcJm6d24tV9ueG1LYIz3zPpE/IqGogwc0wzWAAxZGf2GttsP6ZJVektJ+ TfWYLcWxw==; Received: from willy by bombadil.infradead.org with local (Exim 4.90_1 #2 (Red Hat Linux)) id 1h195O-0007q7-Ru; Tue, 05 Mar 2019 12:22:18 +0000 Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2019 04:22:18 -0800 From: Matthew Wilcox To: Borislav Petkov Cc: Jann Horn , Al Viro , Thomas Gleixner , kernel list , linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org, the arch/x86 maintainers , Linux API Subject: Re: a.out coredumping: fix or delete? Message-ID: <20190305122218.GD13380@bombadil.infradead.org> References: <20190305091904.GB8256@zn.tnic> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20190305091904.GB8256@zn.tnic> User-Agent: Mutt/1.9.2 (2017-12-15) Sender: linux-fsdevel-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org On Tue, Mar 05, 2019 at 10:19:04AM +0100, Borislav Petkov wrote: > On Sat, Mar 02, 2019 at 12:57:30AM +0100, Jann Horn wrote: > > In theory, Linux can dump cores for a.out binaries. In practice, that > > code is pretty bitrotten and buggy. Does anyone want that code so much > > that they'd like to fix it, or can we just delete it? > > I was asking myself the same question while doing > > 10970e1b4be9 ("x86/a.out: Clear the dump structure initially") > > especially since it is kinda hard to get the toolchain to even create an > a.out executable - your script to create one case-in-point. It's been 25 years since Linux added support for ELF. Can we just delete the a.out support entirely now? According to the Linux-ELF HOWTO, support was added in 1.1.52 (August 1994). It's pretty much necromancy at this point.