The text below describes the locking rules for VFS-related methods. It is (believed to be) up-to-date. *Please*, if you change anything in prototypes or locking protocols - update this file. And update the relevant instances in the tree, don't leave that to maintainers of filesystems/devices/ etc. At the very least, put the list of dubious cases in the end of this file. Don't turn it into log - maintainers of out-of-the-tree code are supposed to be able to use diff(1). Thing currently missing here: socket operations. Alexey? --------------------------- dentry_operations -------------------------- prototypes: int (*d_revalidate)(struct dentry *, int); int (*d_hash) (struct dentry *, struct qstr *); int (*d_compare) (struct dentry *, struct qstr *, struct qstr *); int (*d_delete)(struct dentry *); void (*d_release)(struct dentry *); void (*d_iput)(struct dentry *, struct inode *); char *(*d_dname)((struct dentry *dentry, char *buffer, int buflen); locking rules: none have BKL dcache_lock rename_lock ->d_lock may block d_revalidate: no no no yes d_hash no no no yes d_compare: no yes no no d_delete: yes no yes no d_release: no no no yes d_iput: no no no yes d_dname: no no no no --------------------------- inode_operations --------------------------- prototypes: int (*create) (struct inode *,struct dentry *,int, struct nameidata *); struct dentry * (*lookup) (struct inode *,struct dentry *, struct nameid ata *); int (*link) (struct dentry *,struct inode *,struct dentry *); int (*unlink) (struct inode *,struct dentry *); int (*symlink) (struct inode *,struct dentry *,const char *); int (*mkdir) (struct inode *,struct dentry *,int); int (*rmdir) (struct inode *,struct dentry *); int (*mknod) (struct inode *,struct dentry *,int,dev_t); int (*rename) (struct inode *, struct dentry *, struct inode *, struct dentry *); int (*readlink) (struct dentry *, char __user *,int); int (*follow_link) (struct dentry *, struct nameidata *); void (*truncate) (struct inode *); int (*permission) (struct inode *, int, struct nameidata *); int (*setattr) (struct dentry *, struct iattr *); int (*getattr) (struct vfsmount *, struct dentry *, struct kstat *); int (*setxattr) (struct dentry *, const char *,const void *,size_t,int); ssize_t (*getxattr) (struct dentry *, const char *, void *, size_t); ssize_t (*listxattr) (struct dentry *, char *, size_t); int (*removexattr) (struct dentry *, const char *); locking rules: all may block, none have BKL i_mutex(inode) lookup: yes create: yes link: yes (both) mknod: yes symlink: yes mkdir: yes unlink: yes (both) rmdir: yes (both) (see below) rename: yes (all) (see below) readlink: no follow_link: no truncate: yes (see below) setattr: yes permission: no getattr: no setxattr: yes getxattr: no listxattr: no removexattr: yes Additionally, ->rmdir(), ->unlink() and ->rename() have ->i_mutex on victim. cross-directory ->rename() has (per-superblock) ->s_vfs_rename_sem. ->truncate() is never called directly - it's a callback, not a method. It's called by vmtruncate() - library function normally used by ->setattr(). Locking information above applies to that call (i.e. is inherited from ->setattr() - vmtruncate() is used when ATTR_SIZE had been passed). See Documentation/filesystems/directory-locking for more detailed discussion of the locking scheme for directory operations. --------------------------- super_operations --------------------------- prototypes: struct inode *(*alloc_inode)(struct super_block *sb); void (*destroy_inode)(struct inode *); void (*dirty_inode) (struct inode *); int (*write_inode) (struct inode *, int); void (*drop_inode) (struct inode *); void (*delete_inode) (struct inode *); void (*put_super) (struct super_block *); void (*write_super) (struct super_block *); int (*sync_fs)(struct super_block *sb, int wait); void (*write_super_lockfs) (struct super_block *); void (*unlockfs) (struct super_block *); int (*statfs) (struct dentry *, struct kstatfs *); int (*remount_fs) (struct super_block *, int *, char *); void (*clear_inode) (struct inode *); void (*umount_begin) (struct super_block *); int (*show_options)(struct seq_file *, struct vfsmount *); ssize_t (*quota_read)(struct super_block *, int, char *, size_t, loff_t); ssize_t (*quota_write)(struct super_block *, int, const char *, size_t, loff_t); locking rules: All may block. BKL s_lock s_umount alloc_inode: no no no destroy_inode: no dirty_inode: no (must not sleep) write_inode: no drop_inode: no !!!inode_lock!!! delete_inode: no put_super: yes yes no write_super: no yes read sync_fs: no no read write_super_lockfs: ? unlockfs: ? statfs: no no no remount_fs: yes yes maybe (see below) clear_inode: no umount_begin: yes no no show_options: no (vfsmount->sem) quota_read: no no no (see below) quota_write: no no no (see below) ->remount_fs() will have the s_umount lock if it's already mounted. When called from get_sb_single, it does NOT have the s_umount lock. ->quota_read() and ->quota_write() functions are both guaranteed to be the only ones operating on the quota file by the quota code (via dqio_sem) (unless an admin really wants to screw up something and writes to quota files with quotas on). For other details about locking see also dquot_operations section. --------------------------- file_system_type --------------------------- prototypes: int (*get_sb) (struct file_system_type *, int, const char *, void *, struct vfsmount *); void (*kill_sb) (struct super_block *); locking rules: may block BKL get_sb yes no kill_sb yes no ->get_sb() returns error or 0 with locked superblock attached to the vfsmount (exclusive on ->s_umount). ->kill_sb() takes a write-locked superblock, does all shutdown work on it, unlocks and drops the reference. --------------------------- address_space_operations -------------------------- prototypes: int (*writepage)(struct page *page, struct writeback_control *wbc); int (*readpage)(struct file *, struct page *); int (*sync_page)(struct page *); int (*writepages)(struct address_space *, struct writeback_control *); int (*set_page_dirty)(struct page *page); int (*readpages)(struct file *filp, struct address_space *mapping, struct list_head *pages, unsigned nr_pages); int (*write_begin)(struct file *, struct address_space *mapping, loff_t pos, unsigned len, unsigned flags, struct page **pagep, void **fsdata); int (*write_end)(struct file *, struct address_space *mapping, loff_t pos, unsigned len, unsigned copied, struct page *page, void *fsdata); sector_t (*bmap)(struct address_space *, sector_t); int (*invalidatepage) (struct page *, unsigned long); int (*releasepage) (struct page *, int); int (*direct_IO)(int, struct kiocb *, const struct iovec *iov, loff_t offset, unsigned long nr_segs); int (*launder_page) (struct page *); locking rules: All except set_page_dirty may block BKL PageLocked(page) i_sem writepage: no yes, unlocks (see below) readpage: no yes, unlocks sync_page: no maybe writepages: no set_page_dirty no no readpages: no write_begin: no locks the page yes write_end: no yes, unlocks yes perform_write: no n/a yes bmap: yes invalidatepage: no yes releasepage: no yes direct_IO: no launder_page: no yes ->write_begin(), ->write_end(), ->sync_page() and ->readpage() may be called from the request handler (/dev/loop). ->readpage() unlocks the page, either synchronously or via I/O completion. ->readpages() populates the pagecache with the passed pages and starts I/O against them. They come unlocked upon I/O completion. ->writepage() is used for two purposes: for "memory cleansing" and for "sync". These are quite different operations and the behaviour may differ depending upon the mode. If writepage is called for sync (wbc->sync_mode != WBC_SYNC_NONE) then it *must* start I/O against the page, even if that would involve blocking on in-progress I/O. If writepage is called for memory cleansing (sync_mode == WBC_SYNC_NONE) then its role is to get as much writeout underway as possible. So writepage should try to avoid blocking against currently-in-progress I/O. If the filesystem is not called for "sync" and it determines that it would need to block against in-progress I/O to be able to start new I/O against the page the filesystem should redirty the page with redirty_page_for_writepage(), then unlock the page and return zero. This may also be done to avoid internal deadlocks, but rarely. If the filesystem is called for sync then it must wait on any in-progress I/O and then start new I/O. The filesystem should unlock the page synchronously, before returning to the caller, unless ->writepage() returns special WRITEPAGE_ACTIVATE value. WRITEPAGE_ACTIVATE means that page cannot really be written out currently, and VM should stop calling ->writepage() on this page for some time. VM does this by moving page to the head of the active list, hence the name. Unless the filesystem is going to redirty_page_for_writepage(), unlock the page and return zero, writepage *must* run set_page_writeback() against the page, followed by unlocking it. Once set_page_writeback() has been run against the page, write I/O can be submitted and the write I/O completion handler must run end_page_writeback() once the I/O is complete. If no I/O is submitted, the filesystem must run end_page_writeback() against the page before returning from writepage. That is: after 2.5.12, pages which are under writeout are *not* locked. Note, if the filesystem needs the page to be locked during writeout, that is ok, too, the page is allowed to be unlocked at any point in time between the calls to set_page_writeback() and end_page_writeback(). Note, failure to run either redirty_page_for_writepage() or the combination of set_page_writeback()/end_page_writeback() on a page submitted to writepage will leave the page itself marked clean but it will be tagged as dirty in the radix tree. This incoherency can lead to all sorts of hard-to-debug problems in the filesystem like having dirty inodes at umount and losing written data. ->sync_page() locking rules are not well-defined - usually it is called with lock on page, but that is not guaranteed. Considering the currently existing instances of this method ->sync_page() itself doesn't look well-defined... ->writepages() is used for periodic writeback and for syscall-initiated sync operations. The address_space should start I/O against at least *nr_to_write pages. *nr_to_write must be decremented for each page which is written. The address_space implementation may write more (or less) pages than *nr_to_write asks for, but it should try to be reasonably close. If nr_to_write is NULL, all dirty pages must be written. writepages should _only_ write pages which are present on mapping->io_pages. ->set_page_dirty() is called from various places in the kernel when the target page is marked as needing writeback. It may be called under spinlock (it cannot block) and is sometimes called with the page not locked. ->bmap() is currently used by legacy ioctl() (FIBMAP) provided by some filesystems and by the swapper. The latter will eventually go away. All instances do not actually need the BKL. Please, keep it that way and don't breed new callers. ->invalidatepage() is called when the filesystem must attempt to drop some or all of the buffers from the page when it is being truncated. It returns zero on success. If ->invalidatepage is zero, the kernel uses block_invalidatepage() instead. ->releasepage() is called when the kernel is about to try to drop the buffers from the page in preparation for freeing it. It returns zero to indicate that the buffers are (or may be) freeable. If ->releasepage is zero, the kernel assumes that the fs has no private interest in the buffers. ->launder_page() may be called prior to releasing a page if it is still found to be dirty. It returns zero if the page was successfully cleaned, or an error value if not. Note that in order to prevent the page getting mapped back in and redirtied, it needs to be kept locked across the entire operation. Note: currently almost all instances of address_space methods are using BKL for internal serialization and that's one of the worst sources of contention. Normally they are calling library functions (in fs/buffer.c) and pass foo_get_block() as a callback (on local block-based filesystems, indeed). BKL is not needed for library stuff and is usually taken by foo_get_block(). It's an overkill, since block bitmaps can be protected by internal fs locking and real critical areas are much smaller than the areas filesystems protect now. ----------------------- file_lock_operations ------------------------------ prototypes: void (*fl_insert)(struct file_lock *); /* lock insertion callback */ void (*fl_remove)(struct file_lock *); /* lock removal callback */ void (*fl_copy_lock)(struct file_lock *, struct file_lock *); void (*fl_release_private)(struct file_lock *); locking rules: BKL may block fl_insert: yes no fl_remove: yes no fl_copy_lock: yes no fl_release_private: yes yes ----------------------- lock_manager_operations --------------------------- prototypes: int (*fl_compare_owner)(struct file_lock *, struct file_lock *); void (*fl_notify)(struct file_lock *); /* unblock callback */ void (*fl_copy_lock)(struct file_lock *, struct file_lock *); void (*fl_release_private)(struct file_lock *); void (*fl_break)(struct file_lock *); /* break_lease callback */ locking rules: BKL may block fl_compare_owner: yes no fl_notify: yes no fl_copy_lock: yes no fl_release_private: yes yes fl_break: yes no Currently only NFSD and NLM provide instances of this class. None of the them block. If you have out-of-tree instances - please, show up. Locking in that area will change. --------------------------- buffer_head ----------------------------------- prototypes: void (*b_end_io)(struct buffer_head *bh, int uptodate); locking rules: called from interrupts. In other words, extreme care is needed here. bh is locked, but that's all warranties we have here. Currently only RAID1, highmem, fs/buffer.c, and fs/ntfs/aops.c are providing these. Block devices call this method upon the IO completion. --------------------------- block_device_operations ----------------------- prototypes: int (*open) (struct inode *, struct file *); int (*release) (struct inode *, struct file *); int (*ioctl) (struct inode *, struct file *, unsigned, unsigned long); int (*media_changed) (struct gendisk *); int (*revalidate_disk) (struct gendisk *); locking rules: BKL bd_sem open: yes yes release: yes yes ioctl: yes no media_changed: no no revalidate_disk: no no The last two are called only from check_disk_change(). --------------------------- file_operations ------------------------------- prototypes: loff_t (*llseek) (struct file *, loff_t, int); ssize_t (*read) (struct file *, char __user *, size_t, loff_t *); ssize_t (*write) (struct file *, const char __user *, size_t, loff_t *); ssize_t (*aio_read) (struct kiocb *, const struct iovec *, unsigned long, loff_t); ssize_t (*aio_write) (struct kiocb *, const struct iovec *, unsigned long, loff_t); int (*readdir) (struct file *, void *, filldir_t); unsigned int (*poll) (struct file *, struct poll_table_struct *); int (*ioctl) (struct inode *, struct file *, unsigned int, unsigned long); long (*unlocked_ioctl) (struct file *, unsigned int, unsigned long); long (*compat_ioctl) (struct file *, unsigned int, unsigned long); int (*mmap) (struct file *, struct vm_area_struct *); int (*open) (struct inode *, struct file *); int (*flush) (struct file *); int (*release) (struct inode *, struct file *); int (*fsync) (struct file *, struct dentry *, int datasync); int (*aio_fsync) (struct kiocb *, int datasync); int (*fasync) (int, struct file *, int); int (*lock) (struct file *, int, struct file_lock *); ssize_t (*readv) (struct file *, const struct iovec *, unsigned long, loff_t *); ssize_t (*writev) (struct file *, const struct iovec *, unsigned long, loff_t *); ssize_t (*sendfile) (struct file *, loff_t *, size_t, read_actor_t, void __user *); ssize_t (*sendpage) (struct file *, struct page *, int, size_t, loff_t *, int); unsigned long (*get_unmapped_area)(struct file *, unsigned long, unsigned long, unsigned long, unsigned long); int (*check_flags)(int); int (*dir_notify)(struct file *, unsigned long); }; locking rules: All except ->poll() may block. BKL llseek: no (see below) read: no aio_read: no write: no aio_write: no readdir: no poll: no ioctl: yes (see below) unlocked_ioctl: no (see below) compat_ioctl: no mmap: no open: no flush: no release: no fsync: no (see below) aio_fsync: no fasync: no lock: yes readv: no writev: no sendfile: no sendpage: no get_unmapped_area: no check_flags: no dir_notify: no ->llseek() locking has moved from llseek to the individual llseek implementations. If your fs is not using generic_file_llseek, you need to acquire and release the appropriate locks in your ->llseek(). For many filesystems, it is probably safe to acquire the inode semaphore. Note some filesystems (i.e. remote ones) provide no protection for i_size so you will need to use the BKL. Note: ext2_release() was *the* source of contention on fs-intensive loads and dropping BKL on ->release() helps to get rid of that (we still grab BKL for cases when we close a file that had been opened r/w, but that can and should be done using the internal locking with smaller critical areas). Current worst offender is ext2_get_block()... ->fasync() is a mess. This area needs a big cleanup and that will probably affect locking. ->readdir() and ->ioctl() on directories must be changed. Ideally we would move ->readdir() to inode_operations and use a separate method for directory ->ioctl() or kill the latter completely. One of the problems is that for anything that resembles union-mount we won't have a struct file for all components. And there are other reasons why the current interface is a mess... ->ioctl() on regular files is superceded by the ->unlocked_ioctl() that doesn't take the BKL. ->read on directories probably must go away - we should just enforce -EISDIR in sys_read() and friends. ->fsync() has i_mutex on inode. --------------------------- dquot_operations ------------------------------- prototypes: int (*initialize) (struct inode *, int); int (*drop) (struct inode *); int (*alloc_space) (struct inode *, qsize_t, int); int (*alloc_inode) (const struct inode *, unsigned long); int (*free_space) (struct inode *, qsize_t); int (*free_inode) (const struct inode *, unsigned long); int (*transfer) (struct inode *, struct iattr *); int (*write_dquot) (struct dquot *); int (*acquire_dquot) (struct dquot *); int (*release_dquot) (struct dquot *); int (*mark_dirty) (struct dquot *); int (*write_info) (struct super_block *, int); These operations are intended to be more or less wrapping functions that ensure a proper locking wrt the filesystem and call the generic quota operations. What filesystem should expect from the generic quota functions: FS recursion Held locks when called initialize: yes maybe dqonoff_sem drop: yes - alloc_space: ->mark_dirty() - alloc_inode: ->mark_dirty() - free_space: ->mark_dirty() - free_inode: ->mark_dirty() - transfer: yes - write_dquot: yes dqonoff_sem or dqptr_sem acquire_dquot: yes dqonoff_sem or dqptr_sem release_dquot: yes dqonoff_sem or dqptr_sem mark_dirty: no - write_info: yes dqonoff_sem FS recursion means calling ->quota_read() and ->quota_write() from superblock operations. ->alloc_space(), ->alloc_inode(), ->free_space(), ->free_inode() are called only directly by the filesystem and do not call any fs functions only the ->mark_dirty() operation. More details about quota locking can be found in fs/dquot.c. --------------------------- vm_operations_struct ----------------------------- prototypes: void (*open)(struct vm_area_struct*); void (*close)(struct vm_area_struct*); int (*fault)(struct vm_area_struct*, struct vm_fault *); int (*page_mkwrite)(struct vm_area_struct *, struct page *); int (*access)(struct vm_area_struct *, unsigned long, void*, int, int); locking rules: BKL mmap_sem PageLocked(page) open: no yes close: no yes fault: no yes page_mkwrite: no yes no access: no yes ->page_mkwrite() is called when a previously read-only page is about to become writeable. The file system is responsible for protecting against truncate races. Once appropriate action has been taking to lock out truncate, the page range should be verified to be within i_size. The page mapping should also be checked that it is not NULL. ->access() is called when get_user_pages() fails in acces_process_vm(), typically used to debug a process through /proc/pid/mem or ptrace. This function is needed only for VM_IO | VM_PFNMAP VMAs. ================================================================================ Dubious stuff (if you break something or notice that it is broken and do not fix it yourself - at least put it here) ipc/shm.c::shm_delete() - may need BKL. ->read() and ->write() in many drivers are (probably) missing BKL.