Messages in this thread | | | Date | Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:53:04 +0100 (CET) | From | Jan Engelhardt <> | Subject | Re: [PATCH] x86: introduce /dev/mem restrictions with a config option |
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On Jan 30 2008 12:48, Arjan van de Ven wrote: >Subject: [PATCH] x86: introduce /dev/mem restrictions with a config option > >This patch introduces a restriction on /dev/mem: Only non-memory can be >read or written unless the newly introduced config option is set.
Would not it be nicer to add a /dev/pcimem that implements the given restrictive semantics?
Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I am dreaming of an unprivileged X, and /dev/pcimem (owned by an 'x11' user or so) would be a step in that direction.
>The X server needs access to /dev/mem for the PCI space, but it doesn't need >access to memory; both the file permissions and SELinux permissions of /dev/mem >just make X effectively super-super powerful. With the exception of the >BIOS area, there's just no valid app that uses /dev/mem on actual memory.
And so I could even get rid of /dev/mem.
>People who want to use /dev/mem for kernel debugging can enable the config >option.
With a pcimem, kernel people would not need to reconfig the kernel, just create/delete the node as they wish.
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