Look, I agree with you. Increased attack surface scares me too. I'm just saying that line of argument doesn't persuade the maintainers or the users. We need to find a better way to protect ourselves. And turning off build flags is one way to do that, one that the community has adopted already.
The other point I'll make is that other kernel features scare me far more than this SMB server. Think io_uring, eBPF, or similar systems. Their attack surfaces are far larger, and yet they have become mainstream. Unfortunately, the horse has already left the barn. We need to find better ways to secure our systems. Arguing for fewer features has been tried for decades, and hasn't helped. Not here in the kernel, not in the browser, not anywhere.
I wish the world was easier to secure, but it's not.
The other point I'll make is that other kernel features scare me far more than this SMB server. Think io_uring, eBPF, or similar systems. Their attack surfaces are far larger, and yet they have become mainstream. Unfortunately, the horse has already left the barn. We need to find better ways to secure our systems. Arguing for fewer features has been tried for decades, and hasn't helped. Not here in the kernel, not in the browser, not anywhere.
I wish the world was easier to secure, but it's not.