From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Fri, 17 May 2002 13:36:51 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Fri, 17 May 2002 13:36:50 -0400 Received: from nat-pool-rdu.redhat.com ([66.187.233.200]:65229 "EHLO devserv.devel.redhat.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Fri, 17 May 2002 13:36:49 -0400 Date: Fri, 17 May 2002 13:36:49 -0400 From: Pete Zaitcev Message-Id: <200205171736.g4HHant04061@devserv.devel.redhat.com> To: Rusty Russell Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: AUDIT: copy_from_user is a deathtrap. In-Reply-To: Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org >[...] > We could do that, or, we could fix the actual problem, which is the > HUGE FUCKING BEARTRAP WHICH CATCHES EVERY SINGLE NEW PROGRAMMER ON THE > WAY THROUGH. It is but one of many crooked interfaces. For example, Linux has outb() arguments swapped relatively to all other environments. I think it may be the best to have Corbet to update the O'Reily book with a chapter of common traps and add a @-comment near the copy_from_user. In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I used copy_from_user wrong once, many years ago. The lesson which I extracted was different though. I decided that I was arrogant and foolish to program without reading interface specifications or the code. It did not occur to me to shift the blame onto copy_from_user creators. -- Pete