Re: [PATCH 1/2] char/mem: Add /dev/io (v2)

[Adam Jackson]

On 2/7/12 7:17 PM, Alan Cox wrote:
> On Tue,  7 Feb 2012 18:39:45 -0500
> Adam Jackson<ajax@xxxxxxxxxx>  wrote:
>
> > This is like /dev/port except not broken.  /dev/port will translate all
> > read/write into inb/outb streams, which is wrong since hardware can and
> > does care about cycle size.  /dev/io will only allow 1, 2, or 4 byte
> > access, and will translate that into the appropriate bus cycle size.
>
> From a security perspective /dev/[k][mem is a dumb bit of ancient Unix
> history we'd dearly like to kill off. /dev/port is a similar early PC
> unixism that wants to go the same way. /dev/io just adds another horror
> to the pile.
>
> Please do the decent thing, stop using /dev/mem and /dev/port for
> anything. If you need to access an I/O device make it properly visible
> via the kernel only for the ports and in a manner that is safe.

Yeah, I'll be sure to do that right as soon as I can stop supporting the 
vesa driver.  Until that time I don't really have any choice but to 
expose the whole of I/O port space, since I have no idea what the video 
BIOS is going to touch.

I don't disagree with wanting to limit access to these services, but 
/dev/io is at least somewhat containable, whereas iopl is insane.

- ajax

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