Re: [RFC PATCH v6 2/9] fs/namei.c: move create error && negative dentry case in lookup_open up

[NeilBrown]

On Mon, 01 Jun 2026, Jori Koolstra wrote:
> O_CREAT is stripped when create_error is set in lookup_open(), so when
> lookup does not return an inode, the case
> 
> 	if (!dentry->d_inode && (open_flag & O_CREAT))
> 
> is always skipped. We can get rid of this cognitive step by handling the
> error case first.

So you are moving an if() statement which can only do anything if
create_error is set (so O_CREAT is clear) before an if statement that
code only do anything if O_CREAT is set (so create_error must be clear)
and either statement changes either create_error or O_CREAT (in
open_flag).
So that must be safe, and I agree that it improves clarity of the code.

Reviewed-by: NeilBrown <neil@xxxxxxxxxx>

Thanks,
NeilBrown


> 
> Signed-off-by: Jori Koolstra <jkoolstra@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  fs/namei.c | 10 ++++++----
>  1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/fs/namei.c b/fs/namei.c
> index 137d9fffbe80..4cd132fe3981 100644
> --- a/fs/namei.c
> +++ b/fs/namei.c
> @@ -4499,6 +4499,11 @@ static struct dentry *lookup_open(struct nameidata *nd, struct file *file,
>  		}
>  	}
>  
> +	if (unlikely(create_error) && !dentry->d_inode) {
> +		error = create_error;
> +		goto out_dput;
> +	}
> +
>  	/* Negative dentry, just create the file */
>  	if (!dentry->d_inode && (open_flag & O_CREAT)) {
>  		/* but break the directory lease first! */
> @@ -4518,10 +4523,7 @@ static struct dentry *lookup_open(struct nameidata *nd, struct file *file,
>  		if (error)
>  			goto out_dput;
>  	}
> -	if (unlikely(create_error) && !dentry->d_inode) {
> -		error = create_error;
> -		goto out_dput;
> -	}
> +
>  	return dentry;
>  
>  out_dput:
> -- 
> 2.54.0
> 
>