Re: [PATCH 01/11] Security: Add hook to get full maclabel xattr name

James Morris
2008-02-29T02:16:06Z

On Thu, 28 Feb 2008, Casey Schaufler wrote:

> Easier may be pragmatic, but that does not make it right.
> I suggest, that in my opinion (there, is that sufficiently
> non-confrontational?) that Linux and the LSM are much better
> served by a general xattr protocol than by adding a single
> reccommended attribute.

An xattr protocol is overkill for conveying a MAC label over the network,
and would still not provide the required semantics.

Please see prior discussion on this e.g.

http://marc.info/?l=linux-kernel&m=120424789929258&w=2

Note that RAs are already used to convey ACLs and all other system-managed
metatdata. i.e. an extensible, appropriate infrastructure already exists
in the NFSv4 protocol, and has been used successfully for similar
purposes. We do not need to add a new, generalized protocol to NFSv4
for this, especially one which does not meet the requirements.

- James
--
James Morris
<jmorris@namei.org>