Re: [PATCH -mm 0/7] execns syscall and user namespace

H. Peter Anvin
2006-07-11T18:13:12Z

Cedric Le Goater wrote:
> Hello !
>
> The following patchset adds the user namespace and a new syscall execns.
>
> The user namespace will allow a process to unshare its user_struct table,
> resetting at the same time its own user_struct and all the associated
> accounting.
>
> The purpose of execns is to make sure that a process unsharing a namespace
> is free from any reference in the previous namespace. the execve() semantic
> seems to be the best candidate as it already flushes the previous process
> context.
>
> Thanks for reviewing, sharing, flaming !
>

I would like give a strong objection to the naming. The -ve() suffix in
execve() isn't jettisonable; it indicates its position within a family
of functions (only one of which is a true system call.)

execven() would be better name (the -n argument coming after then -e
argument). The library could then provide execlen(), execlpn() etc as
appropriate.

-hpa