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From: Jarkko Sakkinen <jarkko@kernel.org>
To: David Howells <dhowells@redhat.com>
Cc: keyrings@vger.kernel.org,
	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>,
	Jarkko Sakkinen <jarkko@kernel.org>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org (open list:LIBRARY CODE)
Subject: [PATCH v2 0/6] KEYS: From assoc_array to rhashtable migration
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:09:20 +0300	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20261023120953.1206778-1-jarkko@kernel.org> (raw)

The keyring subsystem depends on assoc_array for searching keys by their
description, type and domain. It is the sole user of this data structure,
which has during the age of LLMs transformed into a maintenance nightmare.

assoc_array needs to be replaced with a data structure meeting the
following criteria:

1. Must be suitable for a sparse key-value store.
2. Must have multiple in-kernel users.
3. Would be nice if it had dedicated maintainers.

rhashtable is likely the best pick from the available options as it is
designed for a sparse key space, has dedicated maintainers, and multiple
in-kernel users.

CHANGES
=======

v2:
- Tried to address all the issues pointed out by David and Eric. Tell me
  if something was ignored, as that would be an unintentional mishap.
- Updated and trimmed the source code comments.
- For assoc_array_edit I decided to go with two-element pointer array,
  which shifts a bit what David suggested.
- Dropped is_keyring flag. It was so obvious call so I mention it here
  just in case because too obvious maxes out my self-doubt ;-)
- Used cleanup.h primitives where I possibly could especially in order
  to make fallible initializations more bug-resistant.
- The already-ack'd bug fixes are included but will be dropped as soon
  as I've sent them over to Linus.

VERSIONS
========

- v2:
  https://lore.kernel.org/keyrings/20261016215326.4110064-1-jarkko@kernel.org/`

Jarkko Sakkinen (6):
  KEYS: Expand key->{datalen,quotalen} to unsigned int
  KEYS: Reject descriptions larger than KEY_MAX_DESC_SIZE
  KEYS: Verify the key identity in __key_unlink_begin
  KEYS: Introduce keyring_is_empty()
  KEYS: Replace assoc_array with rhashtable
  lib: Remove assoc_array

 Documentation/core-api/assoc_array.rst        |  564 ------
 Documentation/core-api/index.rst              |    1 -
 .../zh_CN/core-api/assoc_array.rst            |  473 -----
 .../translations/zh_CN/core-api/index.rst     |    1 -
 drivers/md/dm-verity-verify-sig.c             |    2 +-
 fs/smb/client/cifsacl.c                       |    6 +-
 fs/verity/signature.c                         |    2 +-
 include/keys/keyring-type.h                   |    1 -
 include/linux/assoc_array.h                   |   88 -
 include/linux/assoc_array_priv.h              |  178 --
 include/linux/key.h                           |   27 +-
 lib/Kconfig                                   |   14 -
 lib/Makefile                                  |    1 -
 lib/assoc_array.c                             | 1724 -----------------
 security/keys/Kconfig                         |    1 -
 security/keys/internal.h                      |    9 +-
 security/keys/key.c                           |   30 +-
 security/keys/keyctl.c                        |    2 -
 security/keys/keyring.c                       |  871 ++++-----
 security/keys/request_key.c                   |   24 +-
 .../dm-verity/test-dm-verity-keyring.sh       |    2 +-
 21 files changed, 457 insertions(+), 3564 deletions(-)
 delete mode 100644 Documentation/core-api/assoc_array.rst
 delete mode 100644 Documentation/translations/zh_CN/core-api/assoc_array.rst
 delete mode 100644 include/linux/assoc_array.h
 delete mode 100644 include/linux/assoc_array_priv.h
 delete mode 100644 lib/assoc_array.c

--
2.47.3


             reply	other threads:[~2026-10-23 12:28 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 9+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-10-23 12:09 Jarkko Sakkinen [this message]
2026-10-23 12:09 ` [PATCH v2 1/6] KEYS: Expand key->{datalen,quotalen} to unsigned int Jarkko Sakkinen
2026-10-23 12:09 ` [PATCH v2 2/6] KEYS: Reject descriptions larger than KEY_MAX_DESC_SIZE Jarkko Sakkinen
2026-10-23 12:09 ` [PATCH v2 3/6] KEYS: Verify the key identity in __key_unlink_begin Jarkko Sakkinen
2026-10-23 12:09 ` [PATCH v2 4/6] KEYS: Introduce keyring_is_empty() Jarkko Sakkinen
2026-10-23 12:09 ` [PATCH v2 5/6] KEYS: Replace assoc_array with rhashtable Jarkko Sakkinen
2026-10-23 13:22   ` Jarkko Sakkinen
2026-10-23 12:09 ` [PATCH v2 6/6] lib: Remove assoc_array Jarkko Sakkinen
2026-10-23 12:36 ` [PATCH v2 0/6] KEYS: From assoc_array to rhashtable migration Jarkko Sakkinen

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