Re: [PATCH] Remove broken netfilter binary sysctls from bridging code

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 06:07:24 +0200
Patrick McHardy [off-list ref] wrote:

Stephen Hemminger wrote:

quoted

On Mon, 24 Sep 2007 18:55:38 +0200
Patrick McHardy [off-list ref] wrote:

quoted

Eric W. Biederman wrote:

quoted

A really good fix would be to remove the binary side and then to
modify brnf_sysctl_call_tables to allocate a temporary ctl_table
and integer on the stack and only set ctl->data after we have
normalized the written value.  But since in practice nothing cares
about the race a better fix probably isn't worth it.

I seem to be missing something, the entire brnf_sysctl_call_tables
thing looks purely cosmetic to me, wouldn't it be better to simply
remove it?

I agree, removing seems like a better option.  But probably need to
go through a 3-6mo warning period, since sysctl's are technically
an API.

I meant removing brnf_sysctl_call_tables function, not the sysctls
themselves, all it does is change values != 0 to 1. Or did you
actually mean that something in userspace might depend on reading
back the value 1 after writing a value != 0?

I was going farther, because don't really see the value of having
a sysctl for this. It seems better to just not load filters if
they aren't going to be used. Having another enable/disable hook
just adds needless complexity.