Re: Commit: Remove ARM NOREAD section support from GAS

[Nick Clifton <nickc at redhat dot com>]

Hi Christophe,

> First to say that there was no hidden bad intention with regard to the
> FSF goals

Oh yes, I am aware of this, and if I implied otherwise I apologise.


> Then, coming to the NOREAD feature by itself, I would say that it is
> in the same spirit as the TrustZone whose support is widely accepted
> (and even currently upgraded with the arm v8-m recent patches) within
> the binutils.

> Alan and Nick, could you please help me to understand your point of
> view in this regard, because, as I said, NOREAD is in the same spirit
> as the widely supported TrustZone ?

Well, the way I see it, NOREAD sections are contrary to the spirit of
FSF in that they prevent users from examining the code that is running
on their system.  One of the stated goals of the FSF movement is:

  Free software developers guarantee everyone equal rights 
  to their programs; any user can study the source code, 
  modify it, and share the program.

(Taken from the www,fsf.org main page).

In this context I guess that it could be argued that TrustZone support 
should also not be included in the binutils.  (Although it is not clear 
to me from scanning ARM's website exactly what that support might be).
But in the interests of security I am prepared to accept TrustZone support.
NOREAD on the other hand is nothing to do with security as far as I can 
tell, and instead it is all about hiding code from the users.  Something
that is definitely not in the interests of the FSF.

Cheers
  Nick