Re: [PATCH v2 3/7] staging: android: binder: fix binder interfacefor 64bit compat layer

From: Serban Constantinescu
Date: Thu Apr 11 2013 - 11:13:30 EST


On 10/04/13 23:12, Arve Hjønnevåg wrote:
struct flat_binder_object {
/* 8 bytes for large_flat_header. */
- unsigned long type;
- unsigned long flags;
+ __u32 type;
+ __u32 flags;

/* 8 bytes of data. */
union {
void __user *binder; /* local object */
- signed long handle; /* remote object */
+ __s32 handle; /* remote object */


Why limit the handle to 32 bits when the pointer that it shares
storage with need to be 64 bit on 64 bit systems?


Here I have mirrored the type being passed in handle - a file
descriptor(when type == BINDER_TYPE_FD) or a handle - 32bit(when type ==
BINDER_TYPE_HANDLE). This will avoid some casting when handle is used inside
the kernel/userspace(as 32bit value on 64bit systems). However this change
does not limit the extension of the API since we can read the value as 64bit
- binder(on 64bit systems).

I can remove this change if you consider that is the better solution.


I was asking if we should just use 64 bit handles on 64 bit systems,
not adding casts. It would require another union member for a file
descriptor however.

I will leave this handle as __s32 for this patch set but I will take a look into what and if we need to change this for a 64bit system. From a top level perspective(a look at binder_*_ref() functions and the userspace equivalent) this should work fine as 32bit.


};

/* extra data associated with local object */
@@ -67,18 +67,18 @@ struct flat_binder_object {
*/

struct binder_write_read {
- signed long write_size; /* bytes to write */
- signed long write_consumed; /* bytes consumed by driver */
+ size_t write_size; /* bytes to write */
+ size_t write_consumed; /* bytes consumed by driver */
unsigned long write_buffer;
- signed long read_size; /* bytes to read */
- signed long read_consumed; /* bytes consumed by driver */
+ size_t read_size; /* bytes to read */
+ size_t read_consumed; /* bytes consumed by driver */


What is this change for? You changed from a signed type to an unsigned
type which seems unrelated to adding 64 bit support.


See above explanation for binder_thread_write() change, I will break this
into its own patch.


unsigned long read_buffer;
};

/* Use with BINDER_VERSION, driver fills in fields. */
struct binder_version {
/* driver protocol version -- increment with incompatible change */
- signed long protocol_version;
+ __s32 protocol_version;


How does user-space know if it should use 32 bit or 64 bit pointers.
Without this change, the BINDER_VERSION ioctl would only match when
the size of long matches.


The userspace can check the values returned by uname(). That will determine
if the kernel is 32 or 64bit and depending on this select what binder
structures to use. Next a BINDER_VERSION ioctl will fail on 64bit kernels
using protocol_version as 64bit signed long(that is old kernel versions with
no 64bit support).

Leaving this value as signed long would mean that older versions of the
binder(without 64bit support) will pass the check. Furthermore the protocol
version will probably never exceed the values that could be represented on
32bit. It will also mean that BINDER_VERSION will have a different
userspace/kernel handler for 64/32 systems.

Let me know what are your thoughts related to these changes,
Thanks for your feedback,
Serban


I think user-space should get the binder pointer size from the binder
driver, not elsewhere. Since the current driver does not appear to be
functional on a 64 bit system, I think adding an ioctl to get the
size, or encoding it into the binder version (use an unsigned type if
you do this), would be best.

I will think about the best way of getting the pointer size and add it to the patch set for binder compat. For this patch set I will only modify the protocol_version from long to __s32.

Thanks for your feedback,
Serban

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