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author | Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org> | 2024-04-15 19:43:11 +0000 |
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committer | Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org> | 2024-04-15 19:43:11 +0000 |
commit | fc22b3d6507c6745911b9dfcc68f1e665ae13dbc (patch) | |
tree | ce1e3bce06471410239a6f41282e328770aa404a /upstream/debian-unstable/man7/path_resolution.7 | |
parent | Initial commit. (diff) | |
download | manpages-l10n-fc22b3d6507c6745911b9dfcc68f1e665ae13dbc.tar.xz manpages-l10n-fc22b3d6507c6745911b9dfcc68f1e665ae13dbc.zip |
Adding upstream version 4.22.0.upstream/4.22.0
Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'upstream/debian-unstable/man7/path_resolution.7')
-rw-r--r-- | upstream/debian-unstable/man7/path_resolution.7 | 264 |
1 files changed, 264 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/upstream/debian-unstable/man7/path_resolution.7 b/upstream/debian-unstable/man7/path_resolution.7 new file mode 100644 index 00000000..17046031 --- /dev/null +++ b/upstream/debian-unstable/man7/path_resolution.7 @@ -0,0 +1,264 @@ +.\" Copyright (C) 2003 Andries Brouwer (aeb@cwi.nl) +.\" +.\" SPDX-License-Identifier: Linux-man-pages-copyleft +.\" +.TH path_resolution 7 2023-02-05 "Linux man-pages 6.05.01" +.SH NAME +path_resolution \- how a pathname is resolved to a file +.SH DESCRIPTION +Some UNIX/Linux system calls have as parameter one or more filenames. +A filename (or pathname) is resolved as follows. +.SS Step 1: start of the resolution process +If the pathname starts with the \[aq]/\[aq] character, the starting lookup +directory is the root directory of the calling process. +A process inherits its root directory from its parent. +Usually this will be the root directory of the file hierarchy. +A process may get a different root directory by use of the +.BR chroot (2) +system call, or may temporarily use a different root directory by using +.BR openat2 (2) +with the +.B RESOLVE_IN_ROOT +flag set. +.PP +A process may get an entirely private mount namespace in case +it\[em]or one of its ancestors\[em]was started by an invocation of the +.BR clone (2) +system call that had the +.B CLONE_NEWNS +flag set. +This handles the \[aq]/\[aq] part of the pathname. +.PP +If the pathname does not start with the \[aq]/\[aq] character, the starting +lookup directory of the resolution process is the current working directory of +the process \[em] or in the case of +.BR openat (2)-style +system calls, the +.I dfd +argument (or the current working directory if +.B AT_FDCWD +is passed as the +.I dfd +argument). +The current working directory is inherited from the parent, and can +be changed by use of the +.BR chdir (2) +system call. +.PP +Pathnames starting with a \[aq]/\[aq] character are called absolute pathnames. +Pathnames not starting with a \[aq]/\[aq] are called relative pathnames. +.SS Step 2: walk along the path +Set the current lookup directory to the starting lookup directory. +Now, for each nonfinal component of the pathname, where a component +is a substring delimited by \[aq]/\[aq] characters, this component is looked up +in the current lookup directory. +.PP +If the process does not have search permission on +the current lookup directory, +an +.B EACCES +error is returned ("Permission denied"). +.PP +If the component is not found, an +.B ENOENT +error is returned +("No such file or directory"). +.PP +If the component is found, but is neither a directory nor a symbolic link, +an +.B ENOTDIR +error is returned ("Not a directory"). +.PP +If the component is found and is a directory, we set the +current lookup directory to that directory, and go to the +next component. +.PP +If the component is found and is a symbolic link, +we first resolve this symbolic link +(with the current lookup directory +as starting lookup directory). +Upon error, that error is returned. +If the result is not a directory, an +.B ENOTDIR +error is returned. +If the resolution of the symbolic link is successful and returns a directory, +we set the current lookup directory to that directory, and go to +the next component. +Note that the resolution process here can involve recursion if the +prefix ('dirname') component of a pathname contains a filename +that is a symbolic link that resolves to a directory (where the +prefix component of that directory may contain a symbolic link, and so on). +In order to protect the kernel against stack overflow, and also +to protect against denial of service, there are limits on the +maximum recursion depth, and on the maximum number of symbolic links +followed. +An +.B ELOOP +error is returned when the maximum is +exceeded ("Too many levels of symbolic links"). +.PP +.\" +.\" presently: max recursion depth during symlink resolution: 5 +.\" max total number of symbolic links followed: 40 +.\" _POSIX_SYMLOOP_MAX is 8 +As currently implemented on Linux, the maximum number +.\" MAXSYMLINKS is 40 +of symbolic links that will be followed while resolving a pathname is 40. +Before Linux 2.6.18, the limit on the recursion depth was 5. +Starting with Linux 2.6.18, this limit +.\" MAX_NESTED_LINKS +was raised to 8. +In Linux 4.2, +.\" commit 894bc8c4662ba9daceafe943a5ba0dd407da5cd3 +the kernel's pathname-resolution code +was reworked to eliminate the use of recursion, +so that the only limit that remains is the maximum of 40 +resolutions for the entire pathname. +.PP +The resolution of symbolic links during this stage can be blocked by using +.BR openat2 (2), +with the +.B RESOLVE_NO_SYMLINKS +flag set. +.SS Step 3: find the final entry +The lookup of the final component of the pathname goes just like +that of all other components, as described in the previous step, +with two differences: (i) the final component need not be a +directory (at least as far as the path resolution process is +concerned\[em]it may have to be a directory, or a nondirectory, because of +the requirements of the specific system call), and (ii) it +is not necessarily an error if the component is not found\[em]maybe +we are just creating it. +The details on the treatment +of the final entry are described in the manual pages of the specific +system calls. +.SS . and .. +By convention, every directory has the entries "." and "..", +which refer to the directory itself and to its parent directory, +respectively. +.PP +The path resolution process will assume that these entries have +their conventional meanings, regardless of whether they are +actually present in the physical filesystem. +.PP +One cannot walk up past the root: "/.." is the same as "/". +.SS Mount points +After a +.I mount dev path +command, the pathname "path" refers to +the root of the filesystem hierarchy on the device "dev", and no +longer to whatever it referred to earlier. +.PP +One can walk out of a mounted filesystem: "path/.." refers to +the parent directory of "path", +outside of the filesystem hierarchy on "dev". +.PP +Traversal of mount points can be blocked by using +.BR openat2 (2), +with the +.B RESOLVE_NO_XDEV +flag set (though note that this also restricts bind mount traversal). +.SS Trailing slashes +If a pathname ends in a \[aq]/\[aq], that forces resolution of the preceding +component as in Step 2: +the component preceding the slash either exists and resolves to a directory +or it names a directory that is to be created +immediately after the pathname is resolved. +Otherwise, a trailing \[aq]/\[aq] is ignored. +.SS Final symbolic link +If the last component of a pathname is a symbolic link, then it +depends on the system call whether the file referred to will be +the symbolic link or the result of path resolution on its contents. +For example, the system call +.BR lstat (2) +will operate on the symbolic link, +while +.BR stat (2) +operates on the file pointed to by the symbolic link. +.SS Length limit +There is a maximum length for pathnames. +If the pathname (or some +intermediate pathname obtained while resolving symbolic links) +is too long, an +.B ENAMETOOLONG +error is returned ("Filename too long"). +.SS Empty pathname +In the original UNIX, the empty pathname referred to the current directory. +Nowadays POSIX decrees that an empty pathname must not be resolved +successfully. +Linux returns +.B ENOENT +in this case. +.SS Permissions +The permission bits of a file consist of three groups of three bits; see +.BR chmod (1) +and +.BR stat (2). +The first group of three is used when the effective user ID of +the calling process equals the owner ID of the file. +The second group +of three is used when the group ID of the file either equals the +effective group ID of the calling process, or is one of the +supplementary group IDs of the calling process (as set by +.BR setgroups (2)). +When neither holds, the third group is used. +.PP +Of the three bits used, the first bit determines read permission, +the second write permission, and the last execute permission +in case of ordinary files, or search permission in case of directories. +.PP +Linux uses the fsuid instead of the effective user ID in permission checks. +Ordinarily the fsuid will equal the effective user ID, but the fsuid can be +changed by the system call +.BR setfsuid (2). +.PP +(Here "fsuid" stands for something like "filesystem user ID". +The concept was required for the implementation of a user space +NFS server at a time when processes could send a signal to a process +with the same effective user ID. +It is obsolete now. +Nobody should use +.BR setfsuid (2).) +.PP +Similarly, Linux uses the fsgid ("filesystem group ID") +instead of the effective group ID. +See +.BR setfsgid (2). +.\" FIXME . say something about filesystem mounted read-only ? +.SS Bypassing permission checks: superuser and capabilities +On a traditional UNIX system, the superuser +.RI ( root , +user ID 0) is all-powerful, and bypasses all permissions restrictions +when accessing files. +.\" (but for exec at least one x bit must be set) -- AEB +.\" but there is variation across systems on this point: for +.\" example, HP-UX and Tru64 are as described by AEB. However, +.\" on some implementations (e.g., Solaris, FreeBSD), +.\" access(X_OK) by superuser will report success, regardless +.\" of the file's execute permission bits. -- MTK (Oct 05) +.PP +On Linux, superuser privileges are divided into capabilities (see +.BR capabilities (7)). +Two capabilities are relevant for file permissions checks: +.B CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE +and +.BR CAP_DAC_READ_SEARCH . +(A process has these capabilities if its fsuid is 0.) +.PP +The +.B CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE +capability overrides all permission checking, +but grants execute permission only when at least one +of the file's three execute permission bits is set. +.PP +The +.B CAP_DAC_READ_SEARCH +capability grants read and search permission +on directories, and read permission on ordinary files. +.\" FIXME . say something about immutable files +.\" FIXME . say something about ACLs +.SH SEE ALSO +.BR readlink (2), +.BR capabilities (7), +.BR credentials (7), +.BR symlink (7) |