BL(4)

NAME
bl - blind directory file system

DESCRIPTION
A directory, blinded by blmount(8), is identical in most respects with an ordinary directory except that it cannot be examined by read or stat(2) and names of newly created entries in the directory are assigned randomly by the kernel, in response to creat, mknod, mkdir, symlink, and link(2) system calls. In the case of creat, if the name requested by the user matches an already existing file in the directory, the name is not randomized. The randomized name of a newly created directory entry may be found with bcreat; see creat(2).

Names are randomized in the blind directory only; names of files properly below the directory are not mangled.

User processes may put temporary files in a blind directory to avoid possible violations of security policy by observing file names.

SEE ALSO
creat(2), mkunique(3), blmount(8)