On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 1:39 PM, Al Viro <viro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > If we really have hardlinks, the result of permission check would better > be a function of inode itself - as in, "if it gives different results > for two pathnames reachable for the same user, we have a bug". No. You're wrong. EVEN ON A UNIX FILESYSTEM THE PATH IS MEANINGFUL. Do this: create a hardlink in two different directories. Make the *directory* permissions for one of the directories be something you cannot traverse. Now try to check the permissions of the *same* inode through those two paths. Notice how you get *different* results. Really. Now, imagine that you are doing the same thing over a network. On the server, there may be a single inode for the file, but when the client gives the server a pathname, the two pathnames to that single inode ARE NOT EQUIVALENT. And the fact is, filesystems with hardlinks and path-name-based operations do exist. cifs with the unix extensions is one of them. Al, face it, you're wrong this time. Linus -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe ceph-devel" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html