[PATCH 03/12] vfs: prepare vfs_creat|mkdir_no_perm for reuse in lookup_open()

From: Jori Koolstra

Date: Sun Jun 14 2026 - 12:45:13 EST


To implement O_CREAT|O_DIRECTORY we will have to repeat some of the
logic that is now in vfs_mkdir() (e.g. do error checks in the same
order). Separate this out in vfs_mkdir_no_perm(), which does all the
non-permission related work of vfs_mkdir(). Permission checking for the
lookup_open() path is timed differently because we may just be doing an
open and no create. Similar considerations give rise to
vfs_create_no_perm().

Moving the fsnotify_* calls also allows us to deal with this in one
place for each type of operation. This does mean that we also need
to move the fsnotify_* calls into atomic_open() for the atomic open
case, but this actually reduces duplicate code in open_last_lookups()
and dentry_create().

Signed-off-by: Jori Koolstra <jkoolstra@xxxxxxxxx>
---
fs/namei.c | 105 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------------------
1 file changed, 68 insertions(+), 37 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/namei.c b/fs/namei.c
index f169d1123b17..6bf1ded26377 100644
--- a/fs/namei.c
+++ b/fs/namei.c
@@ -4171,6 +4171,24 @@ static inline umode_t vfs_prepare_mode(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
return mode;
}

+static inline
+int vfs_create_no_perm(struct mnt_idmap *idmap, struct dentry *dentry,
+ umode_t mode, struct delegated_inode *di)
+{
+ struct inode *dir = d_inode(dentry->d_parent);
+ int error;
+
+ error = try_break_deleg(dir, di);
+ if (error)
+ return error;
+
+ error = dir->i_op->create(idmap, dir, dentry, mode, true);
+ if (!error)
+ fsnotify_create(dir, dentry);
+
+ return error;
+}
+
/**
* vfs_create - create new file
* @idmap: idmap of the mount the inode was found from
@@ -4203,13 +4221,8 @@ int vfs_create(struct mnt_idmap *idmap, struct dentry *dentry, umode_t mode,
error = security_inode_create(dir, dentry, mode);
if (error)
return error;
- error = try_break_deleg(dir, di);
- if (error)
- return error;
- error = dir->i_op->create(idmap, dir, dentry, mode, true);
- if (!error)
- fsnotify_create(dir, dentry);
- return error;
+
+ return vfs_create_no_perm(idmap, dentry, mode, di);
}
EXPORT_SYMBOL(vfs_create);

@@ -4386,10 +4399,17 @@ static struct dentry *atomic_open(const struct path *path, struct dentry *dentry
error = -ENOENT;
}
}
+
if (error) {
dput(dentry);
dentry = ERR_PTR(error);
+ } else {
+ if (file->f_mode & FMODE_CREATED)
+ fsnotify_create(dir, dentry);
+ if (file->f_mode & FMODE_OPENED)
+ fsnotify_open(file);
}
+
return dentry;
}

@@ -4522,6 +4542,8 @@ static struct dentry *lookup_open(struct nameidata *nd, struct file *file,
mode, open_flag & O_EXCL);
if (error)
goto out_dput;
+
+ fsnotify_create(dir_inode, dentry);
}

return dentry;
@@ -4610,13 +4632,9 @@ static const char *open_last_lookups(struct nameidata *nd,
inode_lock(dir->d_inode);
else
inode_lock_shared(dir->d_inode);
+
dentry = lookup_open(nd, file, op, got_write, &delegated_inode);
- if (!IS_ERR(dentry)) {
- if (file->f_mode & FMODE_CREATED)
- fsnotify_create(dir->d_inode, dentry);
- if (file->f_mode & FMODE_OPENED)
- fsnotify_open(file);
- }
+
if (open_flag & O_CREAT)
inode_unlock(dir->d_inode);
else
@@ -5061,13 +5079,6 @@ struct file *dentry_create(struct path *path, int flags, umode_t mode,
if (unlikely(create_error) && error == -ENOENT)
error = create_error;

- if (!error) {
- if (file->f_mode & FMODE_CREATED)
- fsnotify_create(dir->d_inode, dentry);
- if (file->f_mode & FMODE_OPENED)
- fsnotify_open(file);
- }
-
path->dentry = dentry;

} else {
@@ -5219,6 +5230,39 @@ SYSCALL_DEFINE3(mknod, const char __user *, filename, umode_t, mode, unsigned, d
return filename_mknodat(AT_FDCWD, name, mode, dev);
}

+static inline
+struct dentry *vfs_mkdir_no_perm(struct mnt_idmap *idmap, struct inode *dir,
+ struct dentry *dentry, umode_t mode,
+ struct delegated_inode *di)
+{
+ int error;
+ struct dentry *de;
+ unsigned max_links = dir->i_sb->s_max_links;
+
+ error = -EMLINK;
+ if (max_links && dir->i_nlink >= max_links)
+ goto err;
+
+ error = try_break_deleg(dir, di);
+ if (error)
+ goto err;
+
+ de = dir->i_op->mkdir(idmap, dir, dentry, mode);
+ if (IS_ERR(de)) {
+ error = PTR_ERR(de);
+ goto err;
+ }
+ if (de) {
+ dput(dentry);
+ dentry = de;
+ }
+ fsnotify_mkdir(dir, dentry);
+ return dentry;
+
+err:
+ return ERR_PTR(error);
+}
+
/**
* vfs_mkdir - create directory returning correct dentry if possible
* @idmap: idmap of the mount the inode was found from
@@ -5246,7 +5290,6 @@ struct dentry *vfs_mkdir(struct mnt_idmap *idmap, struct inode *dir,
struct delegated_inode *delegated_inode)
{
int error;
- unsigned max_links = dir->i_sb->s_max_links;
struct dentry *de;

error = may_create_dentry(idmap, dir, dentry);
@@ -5262,24 +5305,12 @@ struct dentry *vfs_mkdir(struct mnt_idmap *idmap, struct inode *dir,
if (error)
goto err;

- error = -EMLINK;
- if (max_links && dir->i_nlink >= max_links)
- goto err;
-
- error = try_break_deleg(dir, delegated_inode);
- if (error)
- goto err;
-
- de = dir->i_op->mkdir(idmap, dir, dentry, mode);
- error = PTR_ERR(de);
- if (IS_ERR(de))
+ de = vfs_mkdir_no_perm(idmap, dir, dentry, mode, delegated_inode);
+ if (IS_ERR(de)) {
+ error = PTR_ERR(de);
goto err;
- if (de) {
- dput(dentry);
- dentry = de;
}
- fsnotify_mkdir(dir, dentry);
- return dentry;
+ return de;

err:
end_creating(dentry);
--
2.54.0