On Tue, Jul 07, 2020 at 06:56:53AM +0000, Harrosh, Boaz wrote: > Kees Cook wrote: > > I have struggled with this as well. The parts of speech change, and my > > grammar senses go weird. whitelist = adjective noun. allow-list = verb > > noun. verbing the adj/noun combo feels okay, but verbing a verb/noun is > > weird. > > > And just using "allowed" and "denied" doesn't impart whether it refers > > to a _single_ instance or a _list_ of instances. > > > But that's all fine. The change is easy to do and is more descriptive > > even if I can't find terms that don't collide with my internal grammar > > checker. ;) > > But why. In English many times a verb when it comes before the noun means an > adjective, or an adjective like, describing some traits of the noun.
This is kind of my problem being a native English speaker: I can't entirely describe _why_ a grammar construct feels wrong. :( > Example: > I work - work is a verb here. > I used the work bench. - Work is saying something about the type of bench, an > adjective. Same as you would say "I used the green bench". Right, so the verb-noun being used as a noun is find, just as adj-noun is. To me, "add it to the allow-list" is entirely sensible just like "set it on the work-bench." It's the "verbing" of a noun that trips me up. "I will whitelist the syscall" -- sounds correct to me (same for "it is whitelisted" or "it is in whitelisting mode"). "I will allow-list the syscall" -- sounds wrong to me (same for "it is allow-listed" or "it is in allow-listing mode"). Similarly, "I will work-bench" sounds wrong to me as does "it is work-benched" or "it is in work-benching mode". > I am not an English native at all but allow-list sounds totally English to > me. (I guess the very correct English way is "allowed-list" where the past > tense may convert the verb to a noun. but allow-list sounds very good to me > as well. Say work-list as opposed to vacation-list do you need to say > worked-list? I don't think so.) > > run mate, running mate. cutting board. these are all examples of verbs used > as adjectives. Are they not English? What am I missing I would like to learn? "it is in allowing-list mode" sounds even worse. :) But other things require the tense follow the merged verb: "It's already in the allowed-list" sounds fine, where "It's already in the whitelist" had no tense since it lacked a verb. I haven't been able to find an comfortable adjective that means "allow"; "allowable-list" is just long. But, as mentioned earlier -- I have just switched to more descriptive and less weird (to me) sentences. "It is set to deny by default" (instead of "it's a whitelist") or "It's already in the allowed-list". *shrug* -- Kees Cook
