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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/filesystems/path-lookup.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/path-lookup.rst | 32 |
1 files changed, 16 insertions, 16 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/path-lookup.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/path-lookup.rst index f46b05e9b96c..c482e1619e77 100644 --- a/Documentation/filesystems/path-lookup.rst +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/path-lookup.rst @@ -43,15 +43,15 @@ characters, and "components" that are sequences of one or more non-"``/``" characters. These form two kinds of paths. Those that start with slashes are "absolute" and start from the filesystem root. The others are "relative" and start from the current directory, or -from some other location specified by a file descriptor given to a -"``XXXat``" system call such as `openat() <openat_>`_. +from some other location specified by a file descriptor given to +"``*at()``" system calls such as `openat() <openat_>`_. .. _execveat: http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man2/execveat.2.html It is tempting to describe the second kind as starting with a component, but that isn't always accurate: a pathname can lack both slashes and components, it can be empty, in other words. This is -generally forbidden in POSIX, but some of those "xxx``at``" system calls +generally forbidden in POSIX, but some of those "``*at()``" system calls in Linux permit it when the ``AT_EMPTY_PATH`` flag is given. For example, if you have an open file descriptor on an executable file you can execute it by calling `execveat() <execveat_>`_ passing @@ -69,17 +69,17 @@ pathname that is just slashes have a final component. If it does exist, it could be "``.``" or "``..``" which are handled quite differently from other components. -.. _POSIX: http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap04.html#tag_04_12 +.. _POSIX: https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap04.html#tag_04_12 If a pathname ends with a slash, such as "``/tmp/foo/``" it might be tempting to consider that to have an empty final component. In many ways that would lead to correct results, but not always. In particular, ``mkdir()`` and ``rmdir()`` each create or remove a directory named by the final component, and they are required to work with pathnames -ending in "``/``". According to POSIX_ +ending in "``/``". According to POSIX_: - A pathname that contains at least one non- <slash> character and - that ends with one or more trailing <slash> characters shall not + A pathname that contains at least one non-<slash> character and + that ends with one or more trailing <slash> characters shall not be resolved successfully unless the last pathname component before the trailing <slash> characters names an existing directory or a directory entry that is to be created for a directory immediately @@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ happened to be looking at a dentry that was moved in this way, it might end up continuing the search down the wrong chain, and so miss out on part of the correct chain. -The name-lookup process (``d_lookup()``) does _not_ try to prevent this +The name-lookup process (``d_lookup()``) does *not* try to prevent this from happening, but only to detect when it happens. ``rename_lock`` is a seqlock that is updated whenever any dentry is renamed. If ``d_lookup`` finds that a rename happened while it @@ -376,7 +376,7 @@ table, and the mount point hash table. Bringing it together with ``struct nameidata`` ---------------------------------------------- -.. _First edition Unix: http://minnie.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=V1/u2.s +.. _First edition Unix: https://minnie.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=V1/u2.s Throughout the process of walking a path, the current status is stored in a ``struct nameidata``, "namei" being the traditional name - dating @@ -398,7 +398,7 @@ held. ``struct qstr last`` ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -This is a string together with a length (i.e. _not_ ``nul`` terminated) +This is a string together with a length (i.e. *not* ``nul`` terminated) that is the "next" component in the pathname. ``int last_type`` @@ -655,8 +655,8 @@ This pattern of "try RCU-walk, if that fails try REF-walk" can be clearly seen in functions like ``filename_lookup()``, ``filename_parentat()``, ``filename_mountpoint()``, ``do_filp_open()``, and ``do_file_open_root()``. These five -correspond roughly to the four ``path_``* functions we met earlier, -each of which calls ``link_path_walk()``. The ``path_*`` functions are +correspond roughly to the four ``path_*()`` functions we met earlier, +each of which calls ``link_path_walk()``. The ``path_*()`` functions are called using different mode flags until a mode is found which works. They are first called with ``LOOKUP_RCU`` set to request "RCU-walk". If that fails with the error ``ECHILD`` they are called again with no @@ -720,7 +720,7 @@ against a dentry. The length and name pointer are copied into local variables, then ``read_seqcount_retry()`` is called to confirm the two are consistent, and only then is ``->d_compare()`` called. When standard filename comparison is used, ``dentry_cmp()`` is called -instead. Notably it does _not_ use ``read_seqcount_retry()``, but +instead. Notably it does *not* use ``read_seqcount_retry()``, but instead has a large comment explaining why the consistency guarantee isn't necessary. A subsequent ``read_seqcount_retry()`` will be sufficient to catch any problem that could occur at this point. @@ -928,7 +928,7 @@ if anything goes wrong it is much safer to just abort and try a more sedate approach. The emphasis here is "try quickly and check". It should probably be -"try quickly _and carefully,_ then check". The fact that checking is +"try quickly *and carefully*, then check". The fact that checking is needed is a reminder that the system is dynamic and only a limited number of things are safe at all. The most likely cause of errors in this whole process is assuming something is safe when in reality it @@ -1265,7 +1265,7 @@ Symlinks are different it seems. Both reading a symlink (with ``readlink()``) and looking up a symlink on the way to some other destination can update the atime on that symlink. -.. _clearest statement: http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap04.html#tag_04_08 +.. _clearest statement: https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap04.html#tag_04_08 It is not clear why this is the case; POSIX has little to say on the subject. The `clearest statement`_ is that, if a particular implementation @@ -1365,7 +1365,7 @@ as well as blocking ".." if it would jump outside the starting point. resolution of "..". Magic-links are also blocked. ``LOOKUP_IN_ROOT`` resolves all path components as though the starting point -were the filesystem root. ``nd_jump_root()`` brings the resolution back to to +were the filesystem root. ``nd_jump_root()`` brings the resolution back to the starting point, and ".." at the starting point will act as a no-op. As with ``LOOKUP_BENEATH``, ``rename_lock`` and ``mount_lock`` are used to detect attacks against ".." resolution. Magic-links are also blocked. |