Re: [RFC PATCH] MAINTAINERS: add an explicit credentials entry

Günther Noack
2025-03-09T11:12:46Z

Hello Paul and Serge!

On Tue, Mar 04, 2025 at 05:23:05PM -0500, Paul Moore wrote:
> The lack of an explicit credential (kernel/cred.c) entry has caused
> confusion in the past among new, and not-so-new developers, about where
> to send credential patches for discussion and merging. Those patches
> that are sent can often rot on the mailing lists for months as there
> is no clear maintainer tasked with reviewing and merging patches.
>
> I'm volunteering for the cred maintainer role to try and reduce the
> confusion and help cred patches find their way up to Linus' tree. As
> there generally aren't a lot of cred patches I'll start with simply
> folding them into the LSM tree, but if this changes I'll setup a
> dedicated cred tree.
>
> Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com>
> ---
> MAINTAINERS | 8 ++++++++
> 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
> index 896a307fa065..68e4656c15ea 100644
> --- a/MAINTAINERS
> +++ b/MAINTAINERS
> @@ -6139,6 +6139,14 @@ L: linux-input@vger.kernel.org
> S: Maintained
> F: drivers/hid/hid-creative-sb0540.c
>
> +CREDENTIALS
> +M: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com>
> +L: linux-security-module@vger.kernel.org
> +S: Supported
> +T: git https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/pcmoore/lsm.git
> +F: include/linux/cred.h
> +F: kernel/cred.c

Maybe also add the documentation:

+F: Documentation/security/credentials.rst

This documents the prepare_creds()/commit_creds()/abort_creds()
"transactional" API that tasks should use to change credentials.

> +
> INTEL CRPS COMMON REDUNDANT PSU DRIVER
> M: Ninad Palsule <ninad@linux.ibm.com>
> L: linux-hwmon@vger.kernel.org
> --
> 2.48.1
>

Acked-by: Günther Noack <gnoack3000@gmail.com>

Thank you both for stepping up to establish a clearer ownership for
credentials! There is a need for authoritative decisions in that
area, and it has been difficult to find the right contacts for
credentials on earlier patches as well, such as:

https://lore.kernel.org/all/20240805-remove-cred-transfer-v2-0-a2aa1d45e6b8@google.com/
(patch by Jann Horn: "get rid of cred_transfer")

https://lore.kernel.org/all/20250221184417.27954-2-gnoack3000@gmail.com/
(patch by me, multithreaded Landlock enablement)

Thanks,
–Günther