Re: PATCH - ext2fs privacy (i.e. secure deletion) patch

Pavel Machek
2004-02-04T00:43:39Z

Hi!

> >Perhaps this should still be controlled by (chattr(1)) [its already
> >documented, just not yet implemented].
> >
> > When a file with the `s' attribute set is deleted, its blocks
> > are zeroed and written back to the disk.
> >
> >...at which point config option is not really neccessary.
> >
>
> You're not the first person to mention this to me, Pádraig, brought this
> up on the day I posted. I certainly thing the 's' options should be
> implemented, however for a privacy patch I believe that the user
> shouldn't have to intervene to ensure a file is securely erased. It
> makes more sense to me, as a lazy person, that the file system should be
> set to always remove the file content... that way the user doesn't need
> to get involved.
>
> All that said, the user's content is something that the user could be
> considered responsible for erasing themselves. The meta-data is the part
> of the file which they dont' have access to, so having privacy
> capabilities for meta-data erasure is a requirement. User data
> erasure... I can take it or leave it. I think it should be automatic if
> at all, but I'm not really that bothered about it.

Well, doing it on-demand means one less config option, and possibility
to include it into 2.7... It should be easy to have tiny patch forcing
that option always own for your use...
Pavel
--
When do you have a heart between your knees?
[Johanka's followup: and *two* hearts?]