[PATCH 3/4] btrfs: handle ENOMEM from btrfs_insert_dir_item() without aborting
From: Jeff Layton
Date: Fri Jul 17 2026 - 12:54:09 EST
Now that btrfs_insert_dir_item() returns -ENOMEM before modifying the
btree (thanks to delayed dir index pre-allocation), callers can handle
ENOMEM gracefully instead of aborting the transaction.
In btrfs_add_link(), add -ENOMEM to the set of recoverable errors
alongside -EEXIST and -EOVERFLOW. The fail_dir_item cleanup path
unwinds the inode_ref/root_ref and returns the error to userspace.
In btrfs_create_new_inode(), when btrfs_add_link() fails with -ENOMEM,
convert the newly-created inode into an orphan instead of aborting.
This is done by clearing nlink and adding an orphan item, which ensures
btrfs_evict_inode() will delete the INODE_ITEM and INODE_REF, and
crash-recovery will clean it up via orphan processing. If
btrfs_orphan_add() itself fails, we fall back to aborting.
This turns a filesystem-killing transaction abort into a graceful
-ENOMEM return to userspace for create(), mkdir(), mknod(), symlink(),
and link() operations under memory pressure.
Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Jeff Layton <jlayton@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
fs/btrfs/inode.c | 17 +++++++++++++++--
1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/fs/btrfs/inode.c b/fs/btrfs/inode.c
index b7b4e6177135..4d9947ae08f7 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/inode.c
@@ -6676,7 +6676,20 @@ int btrfs_create_new_inode(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
} else {
ret = btrfs_add_link(trans, BTRFS_I(dir), BTRFS_I(inode), name,
false, BTRFS_I(inode)->dir_index);
- if (unlikely(ret)) {
+ if (ret == -ENOMEM) {
+ /*
+ * The ENOMEM came before the DIR_ITEM was inserted,
+ * so the btree has our INODE_ITEM + INODE_REF but no
+ * directory entry. Convert this into an orphan so
+ * eviction (or crash-recovery) cleans up the inode.
+ */
+ clear_nlink(inode);
+ ret = btrfs_orphan_add(trans, BTRFS_I(inode));
+ if (unlikely(ret))
+ btrfs_abort_transaction(trans, ret);
+ ret = -ENOMEM;
+ goto discard;
+ } else if (unlikely(ret)) {
btrfs_abort_transaction(trans, ret);
goto discard;
}
@@ -6738,7 +6751,7 @@ int btrfs_add_link(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
ret = btrfs_insert_dir_item(trans, name, parent_inode, &key,
btrfs_inode_type(inode), index, NULL);
- if (ret == -EEXIST || ret == -EOVERFLOW)
+ if (ret == -EEXIST || ret == -EOVERFLOW || ret == -ENOMEM)
goto fail_dir_item;
else if (unlikely(ret)) {
btrfs_abort_transaction(trans, ret);
--
2.55.0