Hello, (It seems that you already have answers but anyway...) > Came across this podman issue yesterday > https://github.com/containers/libpod/issues/3963 > > > Question 1: For unprivileged use case, is it intentional that the user creates a subvolume/snapshot using 'btrfs sub > create' and that the user delete it with 'rm -rf' ? Yes. The problem with "btrfs sub delete" is that the permission check is only performed to the top directory(subvolume). Terefore unless user_subvol_rm_allowed mount option is used, "bttrfs sub delete" command is restricted for unprivileged user. > > And is the consequence of this performance? Because I see rm -rf must individually remove all files and dirs from the > subvolume first, before rmdir() is called to remove the subvolume. Where as 'btrfs sub del' calls BTRFS_IOC_SNAP_DESTROY > ioctl which is pretty much immediate, with cleanup happening in the background. Yes. > > > Question 2: > > As it relates to the podman issue, what do Btrfs developers recommend? > If kernel > 4.18, and if unprivileged, then use 'rm -rf' to delete subvolumes? Otherwise use 'btrfs sub del' with root > privilege? - "btrfs sub delete" if mounted with subvol_rm_allowed - "rm -r" if not mounted with subvol_rm_allowed > Question 3: > man 5 btrfs has a confusing note for user_subvol_rm_allowed mount option: > > Note > historically, any user could create a snapshot even if he was not owner of the source subvolume, the > subvolume deletion has been restricted > for that reason. The subvolume creation has been restricted but this mount option is still required. > This is a usability issue. > > 2nd sentence "subvolume creation has been restricted" I can't parse that. Is it an error, or can it be worded differently? You cannot create a snapshot of a subvolume which is owned by other user now (apparently old btrfs allowed this). In summary, subvolume deletion by unprivileged user is restricted by default because: 1. a user could create a snapshot which was not owned by the user in old btrfs. 2. BTRFS_IOC_SNAP_DESTROY ioctl only performs permission check to the top directory. I think 1 is not a problem anymore, byt 2 still remains. Thanks.
