linux-toradex.git/include/linux/syscalls.h, branch v2.6.39-rc5

introduce sys_syncfs to sync a single file system

2011-03-21T04:40:29+00:00

It is frequently useful to sync a single file system, instead of all
mounted file systems via sync(2):

 - On machines with many mounts, it is not at all uncommon for some of
   them to hang (e.g. unresponsive NFS server).  sync(2) will get stuck on
   those and may never get to the one you do care about (e.g., /).
 - Some applications write lots of data to the file system and then
   want to make sure it is flushed to disk.  Calling fsync(2) on each
   file introduces unnecessary ordering constraints that result in a large
   amount of sub-optimal writeback/flush/commit behavior by the file
   system.

There are currently two ways (that I know of) to sync a single super_block:

 - BLKFLSBUF ioctl on the block device: That also invalidates the bdev
   mapping, which isn't usually desirable, and doesn't work for non-block
   file systems.
 - 'mount -o remount,rw' will call sync_filesystem as an artifact of the
   current implemention.  Relying on this little-known side effect for
   something like data safety sounds foolish.

Both of these approaches require root privileges, which some applications
do not have (nor should they need?) given that sync(2) is an unprivileged
operation.

This patch introduces a new system call syncfs(2) that takes an fd and
syncs only the file system it references.  Maybe someday we can

 $ sync /some/path

and not get

 sync: ignoring all arguments

The syscall is motivated by comments by Al and Christoph at the last LSF.
syncfs(2) seems like an appropriate name given statfs(2).

A similar ioctl was also proposed a while back, see
	http://marc.info/?l=linux-fsdevel&m=127970513829285&w=2

Signed-off-by: Sage Weil 
Signed-off-by: Al Viro

Merge branch 'timers-core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip

2011-03-16T01:53:35+00:00

* 'timers-core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip: (62 commits)
  posix-clocks: Check write permissions in posix syscalls
  hrtimer: Remove empty hrtimer_init_hres_timer()
  hrtimer: Update hrtimer->state documentation
  hrtimer: Update base[CLOCK_BOOTTIME].offset correctly
  timers: Export CLOCK_BOOTTIME via the posix timers interface
  timers: Add CLOCK_BOOTTIME hrtimer base
  time: Extend get_xtime_and_monotonic_offset() to also return sleep
  time: Introduce get_monotonic_boottime and ktime_get_boottime
  hrtimers: extend hrtimer base code to handle more then 2 clockids
  ntp: Remove redundant and incorrect parameter check
  mn10300: Switch do_timer() to xtimer_update()
  posix clocks: Introduce dynamic clocks
  posix-timers: Cleanup namespace
  posix-timers: Add support for fd based clocks
  x86: Add clock_adjtime for x86
  posix-timers: Introduce a syscall for clock tuning.
  time: Splitout compat timex accessors
  ntp: Add ADJ_SETOFFSET mode bit
  time: Introduce timekeeping_inject_offset
  posix-timer: Update comment
  ...

Fix up new system-call-related conflicts in
	arch/x86/ia32/ia32entry.S
	arch/x86/include/asm/unistd_32.h
	arch/x86/include/asm/unistd_64.h
	arch/x86/kernel/syscall_table_32.S
(name_to_handle_at()/open_by_handle_at() vs clock_adjtime()), and some
due to movement of get_jiffies_64() in:
	kernel/time.c

Merge branch 'perf-core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip

2011-03-16T01:31:30+00:00

* 'perf-core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip: (184 commits)
  perf probe: Clean up probe_point_lazy_walker() return value
  tracing: Fix irqoff selftest expanding max buffer
  tracing: Align 4 byte ints together in struct tracer
  tracing: Export trace_set_clr_event()
  tracing: Explain about unstable clock on resume with ring buffer warning
  ftrace/graph: Trace function entry before updating index
  ftrace: Add .ref.text as one of the safe areas to trace
  tracing: Adjust conditional expression latency formatting.
  tracing: Fix event alignment: skb:kfree_skb
  tracing: Fix event alignment: mce:mce_record
  tracing: Fix event alignment: kvm:kvm_hv_hypercall
  tracing: Fix event alignment: module:module_request
  tracing: Fix event alignment: ftrace:context_switch and ftrace:wakeup
  tracing: Remove lock_depth from event entry
  perf header: Stop using 'self'
  perf session: Use evlist/evsel for managing perf.data attributes
  perf top: Don't let events to eat up whole header line
  perf top: Fix events overflow in top command
  ring-buffer: Remove unused #include 
  tracing: Add an 'overwrite' trace_option.
  ...

vfs: Add open by file handle support

2011-03-15T06:21:44+00:00

[AV: duplicate of open() guts removed; file_open_root() used instead]

Signed-off-by: Aneesh Kumar K.V 
Signed-off-by: Al Viro

vfs: Add name to file handle conversion support

2011-03-15T06:21:37+00:00

The syscall also return mount id which can be used
to lookup file system specific information such as uuid
in /proc//mountinfo

Signed-off-by: Aneesh Kumar K.V 
Signed-off-by: Al Viro

tracing: Compile time initialization for event flags value

2011-02-08T22:14:54+00:00

Compile time initialization is better than runtime initialization.

Remove many early_initcall()s and many trace_init_flags_##name()s.

Acked-by: Frederic Weisbecker 
Signed-off-by: Lai Jiangshan 
LKML-Reference: <4D3FDFFC.6030304@cn.fujitsu.com>
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt

tracing/syscalls: Don't add events for unmapped syscalls

2011-02-08T02:24:44+00:00

FTRACE_SYSCALLS would create events for each and every system call, even
if it had failed to map the system call's name with it's number. This
resulted in a number of events being created that would not behave as
expected.

This could happen, for example, on architectures who's symbol names are
unusual and will not match the system call name. It could also happen
with system calls which were mapped to sys_ni_syscall.

This patch changes the default system call number in the metadata to -1.
If the system call name from the metadata is not successfully mapped to
a system call number during boot, than the event initialisation routine
will now return an error, preventing the event from being created.

Signed-off-by: Ian Munsie 
LKML-Reference: <1296703645-18718-2-git-send-email-imunsie@au1.ibm.com>
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt

tracing: Replace syscall_meta_data struct array with pointer array

2011-02-03T14:29:06+00:00

Currently the syscall_meta structures for the syscall tracepoints are
placed in the __syscall_metadata section, and at link time, the linker
makes one large array of all these syscall metadata structures. On boot
up, this array is read (much like the initcall sections) and the syscall
data is processed.

The problem is that there is no guarantee that gcc will place complex
structures nicely together in an array format. Two structures in the
same file may be placed awkwardly, because gcc has no clue that they
are suppose to be in an array.

A hack was used previous to force the alignment to 4, to pack the
structures together. But this caused alignment issues with other
architectures (sparc).

Instead of packing the structures into an array, the structures' addresses
are now put into the __syscall_metadata section. As pointers are always the
natural alignment, gcc should always pack them tightly together
(otherwise initcall, extable, etc would also fail).

By having the pointers to the structures in the section, we can still
iterate the trace_events without causing unnecessary alignment problems
with other architectures, or depending on the current behaviour of
gcc that will likely change in the future just to tick us kernel developers
off a little more.

The __syscall_metadata section is also moved into the .init.data section
as it is now only needed at boot up.

Suggested-by: David Miller 
Acked-by: David S. Miller 
Cc: Mathieu Desnoyers 
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt

tracing: Replace trace_event struct array with pointer array

2011-02-03T02:37:13+00:00

Currently the trace_event structures are placed in the _ftrace_events
section, and at link time, the linker makes one large array of all
the trace_event structures. On boot up, this array is read (much like
the initcall sections) and the events are processed.

The problem is that there is no guarantee that gcc will place complex
structures nicely together in an array format. Two structures in the
same file may be placed awkwardly, because gcc has no clue that they
are suppose to be in an array.

A hack was used previous to force the alignment to 4, to pack the
structures together. But this caused alignment issues with other
architectures (sparc).

Instead of packing the structures into an array, the structures' addresses
are now put into the _ftrace_event section. As pointers are always the
natural alignment, gcc should always pack them tightly together
(otherwise initcall, extable, etc would also fail).

By having the pointers to the structures in the section, we can still
iterate the trace_events without causing unnecessary alignment problems
with other architectures, or depending on the current behaviour of
gcc that will likely change in the future just to tick us kernel developers
off a little more.

The _ftrace_event section is also moved into the .init.data section
as it is now only needed at boot up.

Suggested-by: David Miller 
Cc: Mathieu Desnoyers 
Acked-by: David S. Miller 
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt

posix-timers: Introduce a syscall for clock tuning.

2011-02-02T14:28:19+00:00

A new syscall is introduced that allows tuning of a POSIX clock. The
new call, clock_adjtime, takes two parameters, the clock ID and a
pointer to a struct timex. Any ADJTIMEX(2) operation may be requested
via this system call, but various POSIX clocks may or may not support
tuning.

[ tglx: Adapted to the posix-timer cleanup series. Avoid copy_to_user
  	in the error case ]

Signed-off-by: Richard Cochran 
Acked-by: John Stultz 
LKML-Reference: <20110201134419.869804645@linutronix.de>
Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner