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From: daw@mozart.cs.berkeley.edu (David Wagner)
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Subject: Re: [PATCH] new syscall: flink
Date: 11 Apr 2003 01:02:30 GMT
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Clayton Weaver wrote:
>One other thing: why O_CANLINK (suggested flag
>to open) instead of O_NOLINK?

Because O_CANLINK fails secure; O_NOLINK fails open.
When security is on the line, you really want a fail-safe solution.

And the failure mode of forgetting to specify an O_NOLINK flag
where it should have been specified is going to be a common one.