Re: [PATCH 08/13] iscsi-target: Add CHAP Authentication support using libcrypto

[Andy Grover <agrover@redhat.com>]

On 07/23/2011 09:41 PM, Nicholas A. Bellinger wrote:
> While I apperciate Mike's input here, I'll leave the final word to Andy
> and Christoph who have been primarly driving iscsi-target v4.1
> development and are the guys who have their fingers deepest in the code.

I appreciate that, but hch and I have been working on cleaning up the
main datapath; I personally haven't needed to familiarize myself with
the auth code at all so far. That said, I happen to think you are
correct, and am in favor of accepting the code as is, with in-kernel
auth. I wasn't 100% sure from reading Mike's response but it sounded
like he was saying he'd be ok with in-kernel auth since it would make
handling hw iscsi targets easier.

(BTW I think the arguments about backwards compatibility with existing
rtslib or pre-kernel-acceptance versions are not persuasive and a
distraction from the real technical discussion. Linux has a very strong
stable-user-api tenet, but we should commit to support stable APIs that
are reviewed and accepted in the kernel, and not be limited by
compatibility with prior out-of-kernel versions.)

> But all that said, there is still one person who has the real final word
> here, and he's made it clear how he feels about this type of kernel/user
> split.

Well that's great and all - I would just emphasize we're all going to be
working on this code cooperatively for a long time to come. More time
spent discussing technical issues to where we can all reach a grumbling
consensus will ultimately bear more fruit than appeals to the Hierarchy.

Regards -- Andy