[PATCH v2 1/1] exfat: preserve the next empty-entry hint after allocation

From: Yang Wen

Date: Sat Jun 13 2026 - 09:40:10 EST


Advance and preserve the empty-entry hint when only part of a contiguous
empty range is consumed.

This allows the next file creation to reuse the remaining range without
scanning the directory again.

Signed-off-by: Yang Wen <anmuxixixi@xxxxxxxxx>
---
fs/exfat/namei.c | 39 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
1 file changed, 37 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/exfat/namei.c b/fs/exfat/namei.c
index b7d5e44ad38e..403e47bde9d6 100644
--- a/fs/exfat/namei.c
+++ b/fs/exfat/namei.c
@@ -276,6 +276,33 @@ static int exfat_check_max_dentries(struct inode *inode)
return 0;
}

+static void exfat_cache_next_empty_entry(struct super_block *sb,
+ struct exfat_inode_info *ei, struct exfat_hint_femp *hint_femp,
+ int dentry, int num_entries)
+{
+ int next, cur_clu, next_clu;
+ struct exfat_sb_info *sbi = EXFAT_SB(sb);
+ struct exfat_hint_femp next_hint;
+
+ if (hint_femp->eidx == EXFAT_HINT_NONE ||
+ hint_femp->eidx != dentry ||
+ hint_femp->count <= num_entries)
+ return;
+
+ next = dentry + num_entries;
+ next_hint = *hint_femp;
+ next_hint.eidx = next;
+ next_hint.count -= num_entries;
+
+ cur_clu = dentry / sbi->dentries_per_clu;
+ next_clu = next / sbi->dentries_per_clu;
+ if (next_clu > cur_clu &&
+ exfat_chain_advance(sb, &next_hint.cur, next_clu - cur_clu))
+ return;
+
+ ei->hint_femp = next_hint;
+}
+
/*
* Find an empty directory entry set.
*
@@ -317,8 +344,13 @@ int exfat_find_empty_entry(struct inode *inode,
exfat_bytes_to_cluster(sbi, i_size_read(inode)),
ei->flags);

- while ((dentry = exfat_search_empty_slot(sb, &hint_femp, p_dir,
- num_entries, es)) < 0) {
+ for (;;) {
+ prev_hint_femp = hint_femp;
+ dentry = exfat_search_empty_slot(sb, &hint_femp, p_dir,
+ num_entries, es);
+ if (dentry >= 0)
+ break;
+
if (dentry != -ENOSPC)
return dentry;

@@ -385,6 +417,9 @@ int exfat_find_empty_entry(struct inode *inode,
inode->i_blocks += sbi->cluster_size >> 9;
}

+ exfat_cache_next_empty_entry(sb, ei, &prev_hint_femp, dentry,
+ num_entries);
+
p_dir->dir = exfat_sector_to_cluster(sbi, es->bh[0]->b_blocknr);
p_dir->size -= dentry / sbi->dentries_per_clu;

--
2.34.1