rust-lang / rust-lang/rfcs

`std::process`: Close all file descriptors not explicitly passed

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Description

There are libraries, such as wlroots and GLib, that do not atomically set O_CLOEXEC on the file descriptors they create. Instead, they require any program using the library to close every file descriptor between fork() and exec(), except for an allowlist that should be passed to the child process.

GLib implements this in its GSubprocess API. Linux supports this with close_range() and many other OSs have a closefrom() syscall. Linux also has a fallback by iterating over /proc/self/fd using the async-signal-safe getdents syscall.

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Research direction

Start by comparing the requested behavior with GLib's GSubprocess API and the platform mechanisms named here: Linux close_range(), closefrom() where available, and the /proc/self/fd getdents fallback. Define the standard-library API and platform behavior for closing all descriptors except an allowlist, with the design covering fork-to-exec safety and non-Linux systems.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
operating-systems
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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