[nfsv4] Re: Our different approaches to draft POSIX ACL support in NFSv4

[Trond Myklebust <[e-mail]>]

On Tue, 2024-07-23 at 13:54 +0000, Chuck Lever III wrote:
> 
> > On Jul 22, 2024, at 7:13 PM, Rick Macklem <[e-mail]>
> > wrote:
> > 
> > I just looked at opensolaris/usr/src/head/rpcsvc/nfs_acl.x
> > which I think is the closest thing there is to a spec. for NFSACL.
> > (FreeBSD does not implement this protocol and all I know about it
> > is what this little .x file indicates.)
> 
> That's excellent, thanks for finding it.
> 
> My concern about this is that the cited .x file falls under
> CDDL, and thus cannot be used directly by a GPL-encumbered
> OS like Linux, nor can it be contributed to the IETF in its
> current form.
> 
> This is clearly prior art.
> 
> My question then is whether we should endeavor to produce
> an Informational document that describes NFSACL without
> encumbrance -- ie, get Sun-Oracle to contribute that work
> so that it might be used openly.
> 

Why do we care?

The goal of this group should be to make a version that is appropriate
for NFSv4. That would need to be a new protocol extension for NFSv4
that is separate from the existing ACL attribute.

Even the XDR format of the ACEs will need to be different due to the
adoption of name@domain format user and group descriptions that replace
the uid/gid format.
So there is little overlap with the existing nfsacl.x file (which
existed as a file with no valid licence description in the glibc rpc
implementation for many years prior to the existence of the CDDL).

-- 
Trond Myklebust 
CTO, Hammerspace Inc 
1900 S Norfolk St, Suite 350 - #45 
San Mateo, CA 94403 
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