Re: [PATCH 23/32] xfs: Filter XFS_ATTR_PARENT for getfattr

Christoph Hellwig
2024-04-10T05:51:20Z

On Tue, Apr 09, 2024 at 05:59:30PM -0700, Darrick J. Wong wrote:
> From: Allison Henderson <allison.henderson@oracle.com>
>
> Parent pointers returned to the get_fattr tool cause errors since
> the tool cannot parse parent pointers. Fix this by filtering parent
> parent pointers from xfs_xattr_put_listent.

With the new format returning the attrs should not cause parsing errors.
OTOH we now have duplicate names, which means a get operation based on
the name can't actually work in that case.

I'd also argue that parent pointers are internal enough that they
should not be exposed through the normal xattr interfaces.

> +/*
> + * This file defines functions to work with externally visible extended
> + * attributes, such as those in user, system, or security namespaces. They
> + * should not be used for internally used attributes. Consider xfs_attr.c.
> + */

As long as xfs_attr_change and xfs_attr_grab_log_assist are xfs_xattr.c
that is not actually true. However I think they should be moved to
xfs_attr.c (and in case of xfs_attr_change merged into xfs_attr_set)
to make this comment true.

However I'd make it part of the top of file comment above the include
statements. And please add it in a separate commit as it has nothing
to do with the other changes here.