Re: [9fans] sendfd() on native Plan 9?

[erik quanstrom <quanstro@quanstro.net>]

> /srv is not an ideal answer, though it is the one I feared would be given.
> /srv allows any process running as a given user to access the posted fd, and
> does not respect namespace or process group boundaries.  I want a mechanism
> to pass a file descriptor to one target process so that I can pass an fd
> across namespaces without giving _all_ namespaces access to said fd.
>
> A /srv that 1) was not enumerable, 2) allowed only single opens, and 3) used
> secure identifiers (capabilities, similar to devcap) would suffice, as
> processes could post an fd to recieve an identifier, pass the identifiers to
> another process, and then turn the identifier into an fd.

on unix, which is not a distributed system, passing fds around makes
a certain amount of sense.  in plan 9, i would think that the ideal
answer would need to allow for the unrelated processes running
on seperate machine.  i would also think that it would allow the
standard authentication mechanisms to work.  fds really don't fit
either one of those criteria.  but we're talking generalities.  what's the
specific application?

- erik