All,
Here is the draft opinion for the NWAM case that
was reviewed last week. The case directory contains
the attached text version and an nroff version.
Feedback welcomed.
Thanks,
John
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sun microsystems System Architecture Committee
________________________________________________________________
Subject: NWAM Phase 0.5 (picea)
Submitted by: Darren Kenny
File: PSARC/2008/482/opinion.ms
Date: August 13th, 2008
Committee: John Fischer, Kais Belgaied, James D. Carl-
son, Glenn Skinner, Gary Winiger.
Product Approval Committee:
Solaris PAC
solaris-pac at sun.com
1. Summary
NWAM Phase 0.5 (picea) separates out the GUI from the NWAM
daemon. This will allow the users to better observe what
the NWAM daemon is doing thus giving them better control
over what is taking place.
2. Decision & Precedence Information
The project is approved as specified in references [1], [2]
& [3].
The project may be delivered in a Minor release of Solaris.
3. Interfaces
The project exports the following interfaces.
__________________________________________________________________
Interfaces Exported
__________________________________________________________________
Interface Classification Comments
__________________________________________________________________
NWAM Manager Uncommitted New
control/status
GUI
libnwam.so.1 Project Private Wrapper library
for GUI
SUNWnwamintr, SUNWnwamintu Project Private Internal-only
packages
libnwam.h Project Private Library header
file
/var/nwam/door Project Private
"priority" Uncommitted New
/etc/nwam/llp
keyword
/usr/lib/nwam-manager Uncommitted User Interface
Daemon
/usr/share/nwam-manager Project Private Project Icons,
etc.
/usr/share/gnome/autostart/ Uncommitted GNOME Autostart
nwam-manager.desktop Launcher
SUNWgnome-nwam-manager Uncommitted End User package
SUNWgnome-nwam-manager-root Uncommitted Root package
__________________________________________________________________
The project imports the following interfaces.
___________________________________________________
Interfaces Imported
___________________________________________________
Interface Classification Comments
___________________________________________________
Defining Works- Committed PSARC/2008/034
tation Owner
Infrastructure
___________________________________________________
4. Opinion
4.1. libnwam_{open|close}_door() Function Name
The choice of the name of the interface is too tied to a
particular choice of an IPC. The purpose of these two func-
tions seem to initialize/dismantle a context for the calling
process used for subsequent communications with nwamd. The
committee suggested that the project team remove the IPC
name from the function name. The project team agreed and
has updated the design document [2].
4.2. libnwam_set_llp_priority() Function
The parameter prio is declared as a signed int. This would
allow for a negative value being passed to the function.
The committee asked if there was any significance to the
value being negative. The project team stated that there
are no negative priorities. The committee suggest that the
defined type for the variable be changed to an unsigned int
or that errors be defined. The committee also noted that the
function can return either ENOENT or ENXIO stating that the
later was more appropriate. The project team agreed to
define errors and has updated the design document [2].
4.3. User Interface
The committee noted that unless the end user was familiar
with NWAM and Gnome it might be difficult for them to under-
stand what they are seeing in the User Interface. The com-
mittee suggested that the new interface be clearly docu-
mented. This issue resulted in Advisory information.
4.4. Authorization
This project introduces a new authorization in Network
Management Rights Profile. However, it was not clear if the
console user would inherit the new authorization. The pro-
ject team stated that the console user would inherit the new
authorization. The specification also was not clear on
which events required authorization. The project team made
it clear that all the events require the new authorization.
The project team will update the design document [2] to make
the authorization more clear. The committee was fine with
this issue.
4.5. Solaris Audit records
The design document seems to imply that there is no auditing
taking place when authorization is granted and does not
describe why this is okay. The project team stated that in
NWAM Phase 1.0 there will be auditing. However, the specif-
ication for what will be recorded has not been defined yet.
Because the Phase 1 solution is not yet known in detail, and
the auditing events it will need are not known, this project
team was not planning to implement auditing in this phase.
The project team should consider implementing Solaris Audit-
ing records when authorizations are granted.
4.6. Other Window Managers
The committee noted that the design seems to be Gnome cen-
tric and was concerned about the user not having the same
feedback in other Window Mangers like the KDE window
manager. The project team pointed out that the mechanism
being used is part of the Free Desktop Foundation which
Gnome, KDE and XFE conform with. In the event that the Win-
dow Manager does not conform with the Free Desktop Founda-
tion specification then the user feedback will appear within
a window on the desktop. The committee was fine with this
issue.
5. Minority Opinion(s)
None
6. Advisory Information
It would be very beneficial for the user if the User Inter-
face is clearly documented.
7. Appendices
7.1. Appendix A: Technical Changes Required
None
7.2. Appendix B: Technical Changes Advised
1. Auditing should be added to the daemon when authoriza-
tion is granted.
7.3. Appendix C: Reference Material
Unless stated otherwise, path names are relative to the case
directory PSARC/2008/482.
1. PSARC 20 Questions document. File:
final.materials/picea-20q.txt
2. Final PICEA Design document. File:
final.materials/picea-on-design.pdf
3. NWAM User Interface Design document. File:
final.materials/nwam-ui.html
