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Date:   Wed, 28 Dec 2022 11:47:25 -0500
From:   Demi Marie Obenour <demi@invisiblethingslab.com>
To:     oss-security@lists.openwall.com
Cc:     Alejandro Colomar <alx.manpages@gmail.com>,
        Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>,
        linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-man@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [oss-security] [patch] proc.5: tell how to parse /proc/*/stat
 correctly
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Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2022 11:47:25 -0500
From: Demi Marie Obenour <demi@invisiblethingslab.com>
To: oss-security@lists.openwall.com
Cc: Alejandro Colomar <alx.manpages@gmail.com>,
	Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>,
	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-man@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [oss-security] [patch] proc.5: tell how to parse /proc/*/stat
 correctly

On Wed, Dec 28, 2022 at 10:24:58AM -0500, Shawn Webb wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 27, 2022 at 04:44:49PM -0800, Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM=
) wrote:
> > Dominique Martinet writes:
> >=20
> > > But, really, I just don't see how this can practically be said to be =
parsable...
> >=20
> > In its current form it never will be.  The solution is to place
> > this variable-length field last.  Then you can "cut -d ' ' -f 51-"
> > to get the command+args part (assuming I counted all those fields
> > correctly ...)
> >=20
> > Of course, this breaks backwards compatability.
>=20
> It would also break forwards compatibility in the case new fields
> needed to be added.
>=20
> The only solution would be a libxo-style feature wherein a
> machine-parseable format is exposed by virtue of a file extension.
>=20
> Examples:
>=20
> 1. /proc/pid/stats.json
> 2. /proc/pid/stats.xml
> 3. /proc/pid/stats.yaml_shouldnt_be_a_thing

A binary format would be even better.  No risk of ambiguity.
--=20
Sincerely,
Demi Marie Obenour (she/her/hers)
Invisible Things Lab

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