Subject: Re: [PATCH v10 4/7] signal: define the SA_UNSUPPORTED bit in sa_flags

From: Dave Martin <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2020 16:13:06 +0100

On Fri, Aug 21, 2020 at 10:10:14PM -0700, Peter Collingbourne wrote:

Nit: no statement of the chage being made (other than in the subject
line).

> This bit will never be supported in the uapi. The purpose of this flag
> bit is to allow userspace to distinguish an old kernel that does not
> clear unknown sa_flags bits from a kernel that supports every flag bit.
> 
> In other words, if userspace finds that this bit remains set in
> oldact.sa_flags, it means that the kernel cannot be trusted to have
> cleared unknown flag bits from sa_flags, so no assumptions about flag
> bit support can be made.

This isn't quite right?  After a single sigaction() call, oact will
contain the sa_flags for the previously registered handler.  So a
second sigaction() call would be needed to find out the newly effective
sa_flags.

> 
> Signed-off-by: Peter Collingbourne <[email-masked]>
> ---
> View this change in Gerrit: https://linux-review.googlesource.com/q/Ic2501ad150a3a79c1cf27fb8c99be342e9dffbcb
> 
>  include/uapi/asm-generic/signal-defs.h | 7 +++++++
>  kernel/signal.c                        | 6 ++++++
>  2 files changed, 13 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/include/uapi/asm-generic/signal-defs.h b/include/uapi/asm-generic/signal-defs.h
> index 319628058a53..e853cbe8722d 100644
> --- a/include/uapi/asm-generic/signal-defs.h
> +++ b/include/uapi/asm-generic/signal-defs.h
> @@ -14,6 +14,12 @@
>   * SA_RESTART flag to get restarting signals (which were the default long ago)
>   * SA_NODEFER prevents the current signal from being masked in the handler.
>   * SA_RESETHAND clears the handler when the signal is delivered.
> + * SA_UNSUPPORTED is a flag bit that will never be supported. Kernels from
> + * before the introduction of SA_UNSUPPORTED did not clear unknown bits from
> + * sa_flags when read using the oldact argument to sigaction and rt_sigaction,
> + * so this bit allows flag bit support to be detected from userspace while
> + * allowing an old kernel to be distinguished from a kernel that supports every
> + * flag bit.
>   *
>   * SA_ONESHOT and SA_NOMASK are the historical Linux names for the Single
>   * Unix names RESETHAND and NODEFER respectively.
> @@ -42,6 +48,7 @@
>  #ifndef SA_RESETHAND
>  #define SA_RESETHAND	0x80000000
>  #endif
> +#define SA_UNSUPPORTED	0x00000400

I guess people may debate which bit is chosen, but your consolidation
of these definitions should help to reduce the possibility of future
collisions.  This bit appears unused for now, so I guess I don't have a
strong opinion.

>  #define SA_NOMASK	SA_NODEFER
>  #define SA_ONESHOT	SA_RESETHAND
> diff --git a/kernel/signal.c b/kernel/signal.c
> index f802c82c7bcc..c80e70bde11d 100644
> --- a/kernel/signal.c
> +++ b/kernel/signal.c
> @@ -3984,6 +3984,12 @@ int do_sigaction(int sig, struct k_sigaction *act, struct k_sigaction *oact)
>  	if (oact)
>  		*oact = *k;
>  
> +	/*
> +	 * Make sure that we never accidentally claim to support SA_UNSUPPORTED,
> +	 * e.g. by having an architecture use the bit in their uapi.
> +	 */
> +	BUILD_BUG_ON(UAPI_SA_FLAGS & SA_UNSUPPORTED);
> +

Seems reasonable.

With the above rewording in the commit message to clarify that a second
sigaction() is needed:

Reviewed-by: Dave Martin <[email-masked]>

[...]

Cheers
---Dave

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