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Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 20:41:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alexander Viro <viro@math.psu.edu>
To: David Wagner <daw@mozart.cs.berkeley.edu>
cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: light weight user level semaphores
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On 24 Apr 2001, David Wagner wrote:

> Linus Torvalds  wrote:
> >Ehh.. I will bet you $10 USD that if libc allocates the next file
> >descriptor on the first "malloc()" in user space (in order to use the
> >semaphores for mm protection), programs _will_ break.
> >
> >You want to take the bet?
> 
> Good point.  Speaking of which:
>   ioctl(fd, UIOCATTACHSEMA, ...);
> seems to act like dup(fd) if fd was opened on "/dev/usemaclone"
> (see drivers/sgi/char/usema.c).  According to usema(7), this is
> intended to help libraries implement semaphores.
> 
> Is this a bad coding?

Yes. Not to mention side effects, it's just plain ugly. Anyone who invents
identifiers of _that_ level of ugliness should be forced to read them
aloud for a week or so, until somebody will shoot him out of mercy.
Out of curiosity: who was the author? It looks unusually nasty, even for
SGI.

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