Re: vnode_to_path()

[David Holland <dholland-tech%netbsd.org@localhost>]

On Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 04:06:02PM -0500, Mouse wrote:
 > >> I have a question regarding the vnode_to_path() function [...]
 > 
 > > The problem is that it works if and only if [...].
 > 
 > That's the immediate pragmatic problem.
 > 
 > More serious, I think, is that it exhibits a much more fundamental
 > confusion: it is confusing objects with names for objects.

Right, but there's no way around that because:

 > > The correct way to handle this is to call getcwd there instead, but
 > > there's so far no agreement to accept the possible extra overhead on
 > > every exec call.  Also, there *are* race conditions and it's not at
 > > all clear what the consequences might be.
 > 
 > The current directory may not have any name, and if it does, it may not
 > be determinable by the user doing the exec.

...in these cases there's no correct information to supply. The intent
of the thing is to supply $PREFIX so programs don't have to compile in
"/usr/local" or the equivalent.

Of course, not supplying any information frequently seems to lead
programs that try to use $ORIGIN to crash. And it's particularly not
clear how it interacts with setuid.

 > > $ORIGIN is a poorly conceived interface, unfortunately.
 > 
 > Not as if _that_'s anything new.

Indeed.

-- 
David A. Holland
dholland%netbsd.org@localhost