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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/filesystems/porting')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/porting | 266 |
1 files changed, 266 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/porting b/Documentation/filesystems/porting new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..2f388460cbe7 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/porting @@ -0,0 +1,266 @@ +Changes since 2.5.0: + +--- +[recommended] + +New helpers: sb_bread(), sb_getblk(), sb_find_get_block(), set_bh(), + sb_set_blocksize() and sb_min_blocksize(). + +Use them. + +(sb_find_get_block() replaces 2.4's get_hash_table()) + +--- +[recommended] + +New methods: ->alloc_inode() and ->destroy_inode(). + +Remove inode->u.foo_inode_i +Declare + struct foo_inode_info { + /* fs-private stuff */ + struct inode vfs_inode; + }; + static inline struct foo_inode_info *FOO_I(struct inode *inode) + { + return list_entry(inode, struct foo_inode_info, vfs_inode); + } + +Use FOO_I(inode) instead of &inode->u.foo_inode_i; + +Add foo_alloc_inode() and foo_destory_inode() - the former should allocate +foo_inode_info and return the address of ->vfs_inode, the latter should free +FOO_I(inode) (see in-tree filesystems for examples). + +Make them ->alloc_inode and ->destroy_inode in your super_operations. + +Keep in mind that now you need explicit initialization of private data - +typically in ->read_inode() and after getting an inode from new_inode(). + +At some point that will become mandatory. + +--- +[mandatory] + +Change of file_system_type method (->read_super to ->get_sb) + +->read_super() is no more. Ditto for DECLARE_FSTYPE and DECLARE_FSTYPE_DEV. + +Turn your foo_read_super() into a function that would return 0 in case of +success and negative number in case of error (-EINVAL unless you have more +informative error value to report). Call it foo_fill_super(). Now declare + +struct super_block foo_get_sb(struct file_system_type *fs_type, + int flags, const char *dev_name, void *data) +{ + return get_sb_bdev(fs_type, flags, dev_name, data, ext2_fill_super); +} + +(or similar with s/bdev/nodev/ or s/bdev/single/, depending on the kind of +filesystem). + +Replace DECLARE_FSTYPE... with explicit initializer and have ->get_sb set as +foo_get_sb. + +--- +[mandatory] + +Locking change: ->s_vfs_rename_sem is taken only by cross-directory renames. +Most likely there is no need to change anything, but if you relied on +global exclusion between renames for some internal purpose - you need to +change your internal locking. Otherwise exclusion warranties remain the +same (i.e. parents and victim are locked, etc.). + +--- +[informational] + +Now we have the exclusion between ->lookup() and directory removal (by +->rmdir() and ->rename()). If you used to need that exclusion and do +it by internal locking (most of filesystems couldn't care less) - you +can relax your locking. + +--- +[mandatory] + +->lookup(), ->truncate(), ->create(), ->unlink(), ->mknod(), ->mkdir(), +->rmdir(), ->link(), ->lseek(), ->symlink(), ->rename() +and ->readdir() are called without BKL now. Grab it on entry, drop upon return +- that will guarantee the same locking you used to have. If your method or its +parts do not need BKL - better yet, now you can shift lock_kernel() and +unlock_kernel() so that they would protect exactly what needs to be +protected. + +--- +[mandatory] + +BKL is also moved from around sb operations. ->write_super() Is now called +without BKL held. BKL should have been shifted into individual fs sb_op +functions. If you don't need it, remove it. + +--- +[informational] + +check for ->link() target not being a directory is done by callers. Feel +free to drop it... + +--- +[informational] + +->link() callers hold ->i_sem on the object we are linking to. Some of your +problems might be over... + +--- +[mandatory] + +new file_system_type method - kill_sb(superblock). If you are converting +an existing filesystem, set it according to ->fs_flags: + FS_REQUIRES_DEV - kill_block_super + FS_LITTER - kill_litter_super + neither - kill_anon_super +FS_LITTER is gone - just remove it from fs_flags. + +--- +[mandatory] + + FS_SINGLE is gone (actually, that had happened back when ->get_sb() +went in - and hadn't been documented ;-/). Just remove it from fs_flags +(and see ->get_sb() entry for other actions). + +--- +[mandatory] + +->setattr() is called without BKL now. Caller _always_ holds ->i_sem, so +watch for ->i_sem-grabbing code that might be used by your ->setattr(). +Callers of notify_change() need ->i_sem now. + +--- +[recommended] + +New super_block field "struct export_operations *s_export_op" for +explicit support for exporting, e.g. via NFS. The structure is fully +documented at its declaration in include/linux/fs.h, and in +Documentation/filesystems/Exporting. + +Briefly it allows for the definition of decode_fh and encode_fh operations +to encode and decode filehandles, and allows the filesystem to use +a standard helper function for decode_fh, and provide file-system specific +support for this helper, particularly get_parent. + +It is planned that this will be required for exporting once the code +settles down a bit. + +[mandatory] + +s_export_op is now required for exporting a filesystem. +isofs, ext2, ext3, resierfs, fat +can be used as examples of very different filesystems. + +--- +[mandatory] + +iget4() and the read_inode2 callback have been superseded by iget5_locked() +which has the following prototype, + + struct inode *iget5_locked(struct super_block *sb, unsigned long ino, + int (*test)(struct inode *, void *), + int (*set)(struct inode *, void *), + void *data); + +'test' is an additional function that can be used when the inode +number is not sufficient to identify the actual file object. 'set' +should be a non-blocking function that initializes those parts of a +newly created inode to allow the test function to succeed. 'data' is +passed as an opaque value to both test and set functions. + +When the inode has been created by iget5_locked(), it will be returned with +the I_NEW flag set and will still be locked. read_inode has not been +called so the file system still has to finalize the initialization. Once +the inode is initialized it must be unlocked by calling unlock_new_inode(). + +The filesystem is responsible for setting (and possibly testing) i_ino +when appropriate. There is also a simpler iget_locked function that +just takes the superblock and inode number as arguments and does the +test and set for you. + +e.g. + inode = iget_locked(sb, ino); + if (inode->i_state & I_NEW) { + read_inode_from_disk(inode); + unlock_new_inode(inode); + } + +--- +[recommended] + +->getattr() finally getting used. See instances in nfs, minix, etc. + +--- +[mandatory] + +->revalidate() is gone. If your filesystem had it - provide ->getattr() +and let it call whatever you had as ->revlidate() + (for symlinks that +had ->revalidate()) add calls in ->follow_link()/->readlink(). + +--- +[mandatory] + +->d_parent changes are not protected by BKL anymore. Read access is safe +if at least one of the following is true: + * filesystem has no cross-directory rename() + * dcache_lock is held + * we know that parent had been locked (e.g. we are looking at +->d_parent of ->lookup() argument). + * we are called from ->rename(). + * the child's ->d_lock is held +Audit your code and add locking if needed. Notice that any place that is +not protected by the conditions above is risky even in the old tree - you +had been relying on BKL and that's prone to screwups. Old tree had quite +a few holes of that kind - unprotected access to ->d_parent leading to +anything from oops to silent memory corruption. + +--- +[mandatory] + + FS_NOMOUNT is gone. If you use it - just set MS_NOUSER in flags +(see rootfs for one kind of solution and bdev/socket/pipe for another). + +--- +[recommended] + + Use bdev_read_only(bdev) instead of is_read_only(kdev). The latter +is still alive, but only because of the mess in drivers/s390/block/dasd.c. +As soon as it gets fixed is_read_only() will die. + +--- +[mandatory] + +->permission() is called without BKL now. Grab it on entry, drop upon +return - that will guarantee the same locking you used to have. If +your method or its parts do not need BKL - better yet, now you can +shift lock_kernel() and unlock_kernel() so that they would protect +exactly what needs to be protected. + +--- +[mandatory] + +->statfs() is now called without BKL held. BKL should have been +shifted into individual fs sb_op functions where it's not clear that +it's safe to remove it. If you don't need it, remove it. + +--- +[mandatory] + + is_read_only() is gone; use bdev_read_only() instead. + +--- +[mandatory] + + destroy_buffers() is gone; use invalidate_bdev(). + +--- +[mandatory] + + fsync_dev() is gone; use fsync_bdev(). NOTE: lvm breakage is +deliberate; as soon as struct block_device * is propagated in a reasonable +way by that code fixing will become trivial; until then nothing can be +done. |