Re: [PATCH 0/2] mm: introduce MAP_FIXED_SAFE

[Michael Ellerman]

Matthew Wilcox <willy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> On Thu, Dec 07, 2017 at 11:14:27AM -0800, Kees Cook wrote:
>> On Wed, Dec 6, 2017 at 9:46 PM, Michael Ellerman <mpe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> > Matthew Wilcox <willy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>> >> So, just like we currently say "exactly one of MAP_SHARED or MAP_PRIVATE",
>> >> we could add a new paragraph saying "at most one of MAP_FIXED or
>> >> MAP_REQUIRED" and "any of the following values".
>> >
>> > MAP_REQUIRED doesn't immediately grab me, but I don't actively dislike
>> > it either :)
>> >
>> > What about MAP_AT_ADDR ?
>> >
>> > It's short, and says what it does on the tin. The first argument to mmap
>> > is actually called "addr" too.
>> 
>> "FIXED" is supposed to do this too.
>> 
>> Pavel suggested:
>> 
>> MAP_ADD_FIXED
>> 
>> (which is different from "use fixed", and describes why it would fail:
>> can't add since it already exists.)
>> 
>> Perhaps "MAP_FIXED_NEW"?
>> 
>> There has been a request to drop "FIXED" from the name, so these:
>> 
>> MAP_FIXED_NOCLOBBER
>> MAP_FIXED_NOREPLACE
>> MAP_FIXED_ADD
>> MAP_FIXED_NEW
>> 
>> Could be:
>> 
>> MAP_NOCLOBBER
>> MAP_NOREPLACE
>> MAP_ADD
>> MAP_NEW
>> 
>> and we still have the unloved, but acceptable:
>> 
>> MAP_REQUIRED
>> 
>> My vote is still for "NOREPLACE" or "NOCLOBBER" since it's very
>> specific, though "NEW" is pretty clear too.
>
> How about MAP_NOFORCE?

It doesn't tell me that addr is not a hint. That's a crucial detail.

Without MAP_FIXED mmap never "forces/replaces/clobbers", so why would I
need MAP_NOFORCE if I don't have MAP_FIXED?

So it needs something in there to indicate that the addr is not a hint,
that's the only thing that flag actually *does*.


If we had a time machine, the right set of flags would be:

  - MAP_FIXED:   don't treat addr as a hint, fail if addr is not free
  - MAP_REPLACE: replace an existing mapping (or force or clobber)

But the two were conflated for some reason in the current MAP_FIXED.

Given we can't go back and fix it, the closest we can get is to add a
variant of MAP_FIXED which subtracts the "REPLACE" semantic.

ie: MAP_FIXED_NOREPLACE

cheers