Re: lock i_mutex for fallocate?

From: Allison Henderson
Date: Wed Aug 31 2011 - 21:12:24 EST


Oh, I meant for this to go to linux-fsdevel instead of linux-kernel, but all feedback is welcome! :)

On 08/31/2011 05:33 PM, Allison Henderson wrote:
Hi All,

In ext4 punch hole, we realized that the punch hole operation needs to
be done under i_mutex just like truncate. i_mutex for truncate is held
in the vfs layer, so we dont need to lock it at the file system layer,
but vfs does not lock i_mutex for fallocate. We can lock i_mutex for
fallocate at the fs layer, but question was raised then: should i_mutex
for fallocate be held in the vfs layer instead? I do not know if other
file systems need i_mutex to be locked for fallocate, or if they might
be locking it already, so I am doing some investigating on this idea,
and also the appropriate use of i_mutex in general. Can someone provide
some insight this topic? Thx!

Allison Henderson

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