Re: Updates of SE-PostgreSQL 8.4devel patches (r1324)

Bruce Momjian wrote:
> KaiGai Kohei wrote:
>> Bruce Momjian wrote:
>>> KaiGai Kohei wrote:
>>>> - Two new system columns ("security_acl" and "security_label") are added.
>>>> The first one is for the Row-level ACLs, and the other is for the guest
>>>> of PGACE security framework which is chosen by user.
>>> This is certainly an impressive patch. I see you went with storing the
>>> values inline rather than using pg_security, which is wise, I think.
>>> "security_acl" is 'aclitem' (12 bytes) and "security_label" is 'text'.
>> No, the "security_acl" also uses pg_security to translate between
>> security id (4bytes) and "aclitem[]" (variable length).
>>
>> The Row-level ACLs facility internally translate the given acl array
>> into its own text representation, and stores it within pg_security.
>> We can use a common facility here to manage both of "acl" and "label".
>
> OK, then I am confused. I see this added to
> src/include/catalog/pg_attribute.h:
>
> + DATA(insert ( 1247 security_acl 1034 0 -1 -8 1 -1 -1 f x i t f f t 0));
> + DATA(insert ( 1247 security_label 25 0 -1 -9 0 -1 -1 f x i t f f t 0));
>
> 1034 and 25 are the oids for 'acllist' and 'text' and they are being
> added to system tables. Are you saying system tables don't use
> pg_security but other tables do?

It means users can refer the "security_acl" and "security_label",
as if they have proper types. However, in actually, they are stroed
as security identifiers.

When user refers "security_acl", the patched heap_getsysattr() invokes
rowaclHeapGetSecurityAclSysattr() to translate the security identifier
of Row-level ACLs into an array of ACLs. User will see the translated
representation, as if there is a variable length array, not an oid.

The rowaclHeapGetSecurityAclSysattr() fetch a tuple for the given
security identifier from pg_security. It contains a text representation
of ACLs, so the function exchange it into Acl *.

rowaclHeapGetSecurityAclSysattr()
-> rowaclSidToSecurityAcl()
-> pgaceLookupSecurityLabel() ... It fetch a tuple from pg_security
-> rawAclTextToAclArray() ... It translate from TEXT -> AclItem[]

> I do see pg_security being defined:
>
> + CATALOG(pg_security,3400) BKI_SHARED_RELATION
> + {
> + text seclabel; /* text representation of security label */
> + } FormData_pg_security;
>
> and I assume both security columns reference that.

Yes, AclItem[] is internally translated into text representation to store
it on pg_security.

Thanks,
--
KaiGai Kohei <kaigai(at)kaigai(dot)gr(dot)jp>