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Comment by saljam | Hacker News Reader

Plan 9 has an extra permission for files; "append." When set, this means programs are only allowed to append text to the end of the file. Both simplifying logging (just open the file and write) and making it more secure (no arbitrary writes.)

I wonder if Lennart and Kay would accept a solution that simple...

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Linux also has append-only files, although as usual root can override it.

Are you referring to chatattr +a log? The problem with these files is that they can't be renamed:

    # mv log log.old
    mv: cannot move `log' to `log.old': Operation not permitted

That's the curious thing about syslogging to a network log server, it is append only (assuming the log server isn't compromised.)

It is an existing solution that simple.

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