Re: [PATCH v3 05/14] fs/namei.c: update docstring of atomic_open()

[NeilBrown]

On Sun, 05 Jul 2026, Jori Koolstra wrote:
> The docstring of atomic_open() contains several errors:
>   - It does not return 0 if successful.
>   - path is not updated
> 
> Fix those and be more explicit about when FMODE_OPENED and FMODE_CREATED
> are set.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Jori Koolstra <jkoolstra@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  fs/namei.c | 29 ++++++++++++++++++-----------
>  1 file changed, 18 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/fs/namei.c b/fs/namei.c
> index 956adcd14c4a..88d56a470832 100644
> --- a/fs/namei.c
> +++ b/fs/namei.c
> @@ -4355,17 +4355,24 @@ static int may_o_create(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
>  }
>  
>  /*
> - * Attempt to atomically look up, create and open a file from a negative
> - * dentry.
> - *
> - * Returns 0 if successful.  The file will have been created and attached to
> - * @file by the filesystem calling finish_open().
> - *
> - * If the file was looked up only or didn't need creating, FMODE_OPENED won't
> - * be set.  The caller will need to perform the open themselves.  @path will
> - * have been updated to point to the new dentry.  This may be negative.
> - *
> - * Returns an error code otherwise.
> + * atomic_open() - attempt to atomically look up, create and open a file
> + * from a negative dentry.
> + * @path:          parent directory path
> + * @dentry:        child to ->atomic_open()
> + * @open_flag:     open flags
> + * @mode:          create mode
> + * @create_error:  return value from may_o_create()
> + *

 "If a non-error dentry is returned then : "
> + * If FMODE_OPENED is set, the file will have been attached to @file by the
> + * filesystem calling finish_open(). If FMODE_OPENED isn't set, the
> + * filesystem instead called finish_no_open() and the caller will need to
> + * perform the open themselves.
> + *
> + * FMODE_CREATED is set when the call to ->atomic_open() actually created
> + * the file.
> + *
> + * Returns the opened/looked-up dentry on success or ERR_PTR(-E) on failure.
> + * On error, atomic_open() consumes @dentry.

The rest looks good.  Thanks for doing this.

NeilBrown


>   */
>  static struct dentry *atomic_open(const struct path *path, struct dentry *dentry,
>  				  struct file *file,
> -- 
> 2.55.0
> 
>