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* [PATCH v3 0/6] KEYS: Replace assoc_array with rhashtable
@ 2026-10-25  0:10 Jarkko Sakkinen
  2026-10-25  0:10 ` [PATCH v3 1/6] KEYS: Expand key->{datalen,quotalen} to unsigned int Jarkko Sakkinen
                   ` (5 more replies)
  0 siblings, 6 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Jarkko Sakkinen @ 2026-10-25  0:10 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: David Howells
  Cc: keyrings, Linus Torvalds, Eric Biggers, Jarkko Sakkinen,
	Thomas Graf, Herbert Xu, Andrew Morton, open list:RHASHTABLE,
	open list:LIBRARY CODE

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
=======

v3:
- Since David is away for the next week I decided to address the
  low hanging fruit that I reported myself.
- Unified and sanitized function and variable naming and removed
  unnecessary asymmetry e.g., by renaming keyring_remove_all_links
  as keyring_index_free, 'links' as 'index' and '_edit' as 'edit'.
- Flattened the implementation by refactoring out some useless
  wrappers and other constructs.
- Addressed continuation after triggered WARN_ON() on at the three
  sites that I've described in my email response to the previous
  patch set version.
- Reworked keyring_read() so that it triggers the scheduler between
  the iterations.
- Dropped "Assisted-by: LLM" tag because checkpatch.pl told me so.

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/20261023120953.1206778-1-jarkko@kernel.org/
- v1: 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                           |   32 +-
 security/keys/keyctl.c                        |    2 -
 security/keys/keyring.c                       |  940 +++++----
 security/keys/request_key.c                   |   24 +-
 .../dm-verity/test-dm-verity-keyring.sh       |    2 +-
 21 files changed, 491 insertions(+), 3601 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


^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2026-10-25  0:12 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 7+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2026-10-25  0:10 [PATCH v3 0/6] KEYS: Replace assoc_array with rhashtable Jarkko Sakkinen
2026-10-25  0:10 ` [PATCH v3 1/6] KEYS: Expand key->{datalen,quotalen} to unsigned int Jarkko Sakkinen
2026-10-25  0:10 ` [PATCH v3 2/6] KEYS: Reject descriptions larger than KEY_MAX_DESC_SIZE Jarkko Sakkinen
2026-10-25  0:10 ` [PATCH v3 3/6] KEYS: Verify the key identity in __key_unlink_begin Jarkko Sakkinen
2026-10-25  0:10 ` [PATCH v3 4/6] KEYS: Introduce keyring_is_empty() Jarkko Sakkinen
2026-10-25  0:10 ` [PATCH v3 5/6] KEYS: Replace assoc_array with rhashtable Jarkko Sakkinen
2026-10-25  0:10 ` [PATCH v3 6/6] lib: Remove assoc_array Jarkko Sakkinen

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