[PATCH 1/7] VFS/xfs/ntfs: drop parent lock across d_alloc_parallel() in d_add_ci()

From: NeilBrown

Date: Mon Sep 28 2026 - 23:47:32 EST


From: NeilBrown <neil@xxxxxxxxxx>

A proposed change will invert the lock ordering between
d_alloc_parallel() and inode_lock() on the parent.
When that happens it will not be safe to call d_alloc_parallel() while
holding the parent lock - even shared.

We don't need to keep the parent lock held when d_add_ci() is run - the
VFS doesn't need it as dentry is exclusively held due to
DCACHE_PAR_LOOKUP and the filesystem has finished its work.

So drop and reclaim the lock (shared or exclusive as determined by
LOOKUP_SHARED) to avoid future deadlock.

Signed-off-by: NeilBrown <neil@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
Documentation/filesystems/porting.rst | 7 ++++++
fs/dcache.c | 32 +++++++++++++++++++++++----
fs/ntfs/namei.c | 2 +-
fs/xfs/xfs_iops.c | 2 +-
include/linux/dcache.h | 3 ++-
5 files changed, 39 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/porting.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/porting.rst
index 4e015f1bf1f8..f6a38bd9c68e 100644
--- a/Documentation/filesystems/porting.rst
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/porting.rst
@@ -1409,3 +1409,10 @@ use only if you have no alternative.
The .create inode_operation no longer receives the 'excl' arg. It must
always assume the file does not already exist. If the filesystem needs
to be involved in non-exclusive create, it should provide atomic_open.
+
+---
+
+**mandatory**
+
+d_add_ci() must now be passed the flags arguemnt that was given to ->lookup
+
diff --git a/fs/dcache.c b/fs/dcache.c
index 83790c7a4dee..61e0896dc077 100644
--- a/fs/dcache.c
+++ b/fs/dcache.c
@@ -2383,6 +2383,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(d_obtain_root);
* @dentry: the negative dentry that was passed to the parent's lookup func
* @inode: the inode case-insensitive lookup has found
* @name: the case-exact name to be associated with the returned dentry
+ * @lookup_flags: flags passed to ->lookup
*
* This is to avoid filling the dcache with case-insensitive names to the
* same inode, only the actual correct case is stored in the dcache for
@@ -2395,9 +2396,10 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(d_obtain_root);
* the exact case, and return the spliced entry.
*/
struct dentry *d_add_ci(struct dentry *dentry, struct inode *inode,
- struct qstr *name)
+ struct qstr *name, unsigned int lookup_flags)
{
struct dentry *found, *res;
+ bool must_unlock = false;

/*
* First check if a dentry matching the name already exists,
@@ -2409,24 +2411,46 @@ struct dentry *d_add_ci(struct dentry *dentry, struct inode *inode,
return found;
}
if (d_in_lookup(dentry)) {
+ /*
+ * We are holding parent lock and so don't want to wait
+ * for a d_in_lookup() dentry. We can safely drop the
+ * parent lock and reclaim it as we have exclusive
+ * access to dentry as it is d_in_lookup() (so
+ * ->d_parent is stable) and we are near the end
+ * ->lookup() and will shortly drop the lock anyway.
+ * We cannot retake the lock while the new dentry is in-lookup
+ */
+ if (lookup_flags & LOOKUP_SHARED)
+ inode_unlock_shared(d_inode(dentry->d_parent));
+ else
+ inode_unlock(d_inode(dentry->d_parent));
+ must_unlock = true;
found = d_alloc_parallel(dentry->d_parent, name);
if (IS_ERR(found) || !d_in_lookup(found)) {
iput(inode);
- return found;
+ goto out_unlock;
}
} else {
found = d_alloc(dentry->d_parent, name);
if (!found) {
iput(inode);
return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
- }
+ }
}
res = d_splice_alias(inode, found);
if (res) {
d_lookup_done(found);
dput(found);
- return res;
+ found = res;
}
+ if (!must_unlock)
+ return found;
+out_unlock:
+ d_lookup_done(dentry);
+ if (lookup_flags & LOOKUP_SHARED)
+ inode_lock_shared(d_inode(dentry->d_parent));
+ else
+ inode_lock_nested(d_inode(dentry->d_parent), I_MUTEX_PARENT);
return found;
}
EXPORT_SYMBOL(d_add_ci);
diff --git a/fs/ntfs/namei.c b/fs/ntfs/namei.c
index 7091b2496fac..61cfa4e16586 100644
--- a/fs/ntfs/namei.c
+++ b/fs/ntfs/namei.c
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ static struct dentry *ntfs_lookup(struct inode *dir_ino, struct dentry *dent,
}
nls_name.hash = full_name_hash(dent, nls_name.name, nls_name.len);

- dent = d_add_ci(dent, dent_inode, &nls_name);
+ dent = d_add_ci(dent, dent_inode, &nls_name, flags);
kfree(nls_name.name);
return dent;

diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_iops.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_iops.c
index 4a3299abf774..fd480c0e4147 100644
--- a/fs/xfs/xfs_iops.c
+++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_iops.c
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ xfs_vn_ci_lookup(
/* else case-insensitive match... */
dname.name = ci_name.name;
dname.len = ci_name.len;
- dentry = d_add_ci(dentry, VFS_I(ip), &dname);
+ dentry = d_add_ci(dentry, VFS_I(ip), &dname, flags);
kfree(ci_name.name);
return dentry;
}
diff --git a/include/linux/dcache.h b/include/linux/dcache.h
index adf239f8205f..97d11f5e6a7b 100644
--- a/include/linux/dcache.h
+++ b/include/linux/dcache.h
@@ -267,7 +267,8 @@ struct dentry *d_duplicate(struct dentry *dentry);
/* weird procfs mess; *NOT* exported */
extern struct dentry * d_splice_alias_ops(struct inode *, struct dentry *,
const struct dentry_operations *);
-extern struct dentry * d_add_ci(struct dentry *, struct inode *, struct qstr *);
+extern struct dentry * d_add_ci(struct dentry *, struct inode *, struct qstr *,
+ unsigned int);
extern bool d_same_name(const struct dentry *dentry, const struct dentry *parent,
const struct qstr *name);
extern struct dentry *d_find_any_alias(struct inode *inode);

base-commit: 3879f51857325da9bf3cfb073280257cd16ae067
--
2.50.0.107.gf914562f5916.dirty