powerpc/mm: Split mmu_context handling
[deliverable/linux.git] / Documentation / filesystems / Locking
CommitLineData
1da177e4
LT
1 The text below describes the locking rules for VFS-related methods.
2It is (believed to be) up-to-date. *Please*, if you change anything in
3prototypes or locking protocols - update this file. And update the relevant
4instances in the tree, don't leave that to maintainers of filesystems/devices/
5etc. At the very least, put the list of dubious cases in the end of this file.
6Don't turn it into log - maintainers of out-of-the-tree code are supposed to
7be able to use diff(1).
8 Thing currently missing here: socket operations. Alexey?
9
10--------------------------- dentry_operations --------------------------
11prototypes:
12 int (*d_revalidate)(struct dentry *, int);
13 int (*d_hash) (struct dentry *, struct qstr *);
14 int (*d_compare) (struct dentry *, struct qstr *, struct qstr *);
15 int (*d_delete)(struct dentry *);
16 void (*d_release)(struct dentry *);
17 void (*d_iput)(struct dentry *, struct inode *);
c23fbb6b 18 char *(*d_dname)((struct dentry *dentry, char *buffer, int buflen);
1da177e4
LT
19
20locking rules:
21 none have BKL
22 dcache_lock rename_lock ->d_lock may block
23d_revalidate: no no no yes
24d_hash no no no yes
25d_compare: no yes no no
26d_delete: yes no yes no
27d_release: no no no yes
28d_iput: no no no yes
c23fbb6b 29d_dname: no no no no
1da177e4
LT
30
31--------------------------- inode_operations ---------------------------
32prototypes:
33 int (*create) (struct inode *,struct dentry *,int, struct nameidata *);
34 struct dentry * (*lookup) (struct inode *,struct dentry *, struct nameid
35ata *);
36 int (*link) (struct dentry *,struct inode *,struct dentry *);
37 int (*unlink) (struct inode *,struct dentry *);
38 int (*symlink) (struct inode *,struct dentry *,const char *);
39 int (*mkdir) (struct inode *,struct dentry *,int);
40 int (*rmdir) (struct inode *,struct dentry *);
41 int (*mknod) (struct inode *,struct dentry *,int,dev_t);
42 int (*rename) (struct inode *, struct dentry *,
43 struct inode *, struct dentry *);
44 int (*readlink) (struct dentry *, char __user *,int);
45 int (*follow_link) (struct dentry *, struct nameidata *);
46 void (*truncate) (struct inode *);
47 int (*permission) (struct inode *, int, struct nameidata *);
48 int (*setattr) (struct dentry *, struct iattr *);
49 int (*getattr) (struct vfsmount *, struct dentry *, struct kstat *);
50 int (*setxattr) (struct dentry *, const char *,const void *,size_t,int);
51 ssize_t (*getxattr) (struct dentry *, const char *, void *, size_t);
52 ssize_t (*listxattr) (struct dentry *, char *, size_t);
53 int (*removexattr) (struct dentry *, const char *);
54
55locking rules:
56 all may block, none have BKL
a7bc02f4 57 i_mutex(inode)
1da177e4
LT
58lookup: yes
59create: yes
60link: yes (both)
61mknod: yes
62symlink: yes
63mkdir: yes
64unlink: yes (both)
65rmdir: yes (both) (see below)
66rename: yes (all) (see below)
67readlink: no
68follow_link: no
69truncate: yes (see below)
70setattr: yes
71permission: no
72getattr: no
73setxattr: yes
74getxattr: no
75listxattr: no
76removexattr: yes
a7bc02f4 77 Additionally, ->rmdir(), ->unlink() and ->rename() have ->i_mutex on
1da177e4
LT
78victim.
79 cross-directory ->rename() has (per-superblock) ->s_vfs_rename_sem.
80 ->truncate() is never called directly - it's a callback, not a
81method. It's called by vmtruncate() - library function normally used by
82->setattr(). Locking information above applies to that call (i.e. is
83inherited from ->setattr() - vmtruncate() is used when ATTR_SIZE had been
84passed).
85
86See Documentation/filesystems/directory-locking for more detailed discussion
87of the locking scheme for directory operations.
88
89--------------------------- super_operations ---------------------------
90prototypes:
91 struct inode *(*alloc_inode)(struct super_block *sb);
92 void (*destroy_inode)(struct inode *);
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93 void (*dirty_inode) (struct inode *);
94 int (*write_inode) (struct inode *, int);
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LT
95 void (*drop_inode) (struct inode *);
96 void (*delete_inode) (struct inode *);
97 void (*put_super) (struct super_block *);
98 void (*write_super) (struct super_block *);
99 int (*sync_fs)(struct super_block *sb, int wait);
100 void (*write_super_lockfs) (struct super_block *);
101 void (*unlockfs) (struct super_block *);
726c3342 102 int (*statfs) (struct dentry *, struct kstatfs *);
1da177e4
LT
103 int (*remount_fs) (struct super_block *, int *, char *);
104 void (*clear_inode) (struct inode *);
105 void (*umount_begin) (struct super_block *);
106 int (*show_options)(struct seq_file *, struct vfsmount *);
107 ssize_t (*quota_read)(struct super_block *, int, char *, size_t, loff_t);
108 ssize_t (*quota_write)(struct super_block *, int, const char *, size_t, loff_t);
109
110locking rules:
111 All may block.
112 BKL s_lock s_umount
113alloc_inode: no no no
114destroy_inode: no
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115dirty_inode: no (must not sleep)
116write_inode: no
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117drop_inode: no !!!inode_lock!!!
118delete_inode: no
119put_super: yes yes no
120write_super: no yes read
121sync_fs: no no read
122write_super_lockfs: ?
123unlockfs: ?
124statfs: no no no
70888bd5 125remount_fs: yes yes maybe (see below)
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126clear_inode: no
127umount_begin: yes no no
128show_options: no (vfsmount->sem)
129quota_read: no no no (see below)
130quota_write: no no no (see below)
131
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132->remount_fs() will have the s_umount lock if it's already mounted.
133When called from get_sb_single, it does NOT have the s_umount lock.
134->quota_read() and ->quota_write() functions are both guaranteed to
135be the only ones operating on the quota file by the quota code (via
136dqio_sem) (unless an admin really wants to screw up something and
137writes to quota files with quotas on). For other details about locking
138see also dquot_operations section.
139
140--------------------------- file_system_type ---------------------------
141prototypes:
5d8b2ebf
JC
142 int (*get_sb) (struct file_system_type *, int,
143 const char *, void *, struct vfsmount *);
1da177e4
LT
144 void (*kill_sb) (struct super_block *);
145locking rules:
146 may block BKL
adaae721
CH
147get_sb yes no
148kill_sb yes no
1da177e4 149
454e2398
DH
150->get_sb() returns error or 0 with locked superblock attached to the vfsmount
151(exclusive on ->s_umount).
1da177e4
LT
152->kill_sb() takes a write-locked superblock, does all shutdown work on it,
153unlocks and drops the reference.
154
155--------------------------- address_space_operations --------------------------
156prototypes:
157 int (*writepage)(struct page *page, struct writeback_control *wbc);
158 int (*readpage)(struct file *, struct page *);
159 int (*sync_page)(struct page *);
160 int (*writepages)(struct address_space *, struct writeback_control *);
161 int (*set_page_dirty)(struct page *page);
162 int (*readpages)(struct file *filp, struct address_space *mapping,
163 struct list_head *pages, unsigned nr_pages);
4e02ed4b
NP
164 int (*write_begin)(struct file *, struct address_space *mapping,
165 loff_t pos, unsigned len, unsigned flags,
166 struct page **pagep, void **fsdata);
167 int (*write_end)(struct file *, struct address_space *mapping,
168 loff_t pos, unsigned len, unsigned copied,
169 struct page *page, void *fsdata);
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LT
170 sector_t (*bmap)(struct address_space *, sector_t);
171 int (*invalidatepage) (struct page *, unsigned long);
172 int (*releasepage) (struct page *, int);
173 int (*direct_IO)(int, struct kiocb *, const struct iovec *iov,
174 loff_t offset, unsigned long nr_segs);
e3db7691 175 int (*launder_page) (struct page *);
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176
177locking rules:
178 All except set_page_dirty may block
179
afddba49 180 BKL PageLocked(page) i_sem
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181writepage: no yes, unlocks (see below)
182readpage: no yes, unlocks
183sync_page: no maybe
184writepages: no
185set_page_dirty no no
186readpages: no
afddba49
NP
187write_begin: no locks the page yes
188write_end: no yes, unlocks yes
189perform_write: no n/a yes
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LT
190bmap: yes
191invalidatepage: no yes
192releasepage: no yes
193direct_IO: no
e3db7691 194launder_page: no yes
1da177e4 195
4e02ed4b 196 ->write_begin(), ->write_end(), ->sync_page() and ->readpage()
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LT
197may be called from the request handler (/dev/loop).
198
199 ->readpage() unlocks the page, either synchronously or via I/O
200completion.
201
202 ->readpages() populates the pagecache with the passed pages and starts
203I/O against them. They come unlocked upon I/O completion.
204
205 ->writepage() is used for two purposes: for "memory cleansing" and for
206"sync". These are quite different operations and the behaviour may differ
207depending upon the mode.
208
209If writepage is called for sync (wbc->sync_mode != WBC_SYNC_NONE) then
210it *must* start I/O against the page, even if that would involve
211blocking on in-progress I/O.
212
213If writepage is called for memory cleansing (sync_mode ==
214WBC_SYNC_NONE) then its role is to get as much writeout underway as
215possible. So writepage should try to avoid blocking against
216currently-in-progress I/O.
217
218If the filesystem is not called for "sync" and it determines that it
219would need to block against in-progress I/O to be able to start new I/O
220against the page the filesystem should redirty the page with
221redirty_page_for_writepage(), then unlock the page and return zero.
222This may also be done to avoid internal deadlocks, but rarely.
223
3a4fa0a2 224If the filesystem is called for sync then it must wait on any
1da177e4
LT
225in-progress I/O and then start new I/O.
226
2054606a
ND
227The filesystem should unlock the page synchronously, before returning to the
228caller, unless ->writepage() returns special WRITEPAGE_ACTIVATE
229value. WRITEPAGE_ACTIVATE means that page cannot really be written out
230currently, and VM should stop calling ->writepage() on this page for some
231time. VM does this by moving page to the head of the active list, hence the
232name.
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233
234Unless the filesystem is going to redirty_page_for_writepage(), unlock the page
235and return zero, writepage *must* run set_page_writeback() against the page,
236followed by unlocking it. Once set_page_writeback() has been run against the
237page, write I/O can be submitted and the write I/O completion handler must run
238end_page_writeback() once the I/O is complete. If no I/O is submitted, the
239filesystem must run end_page_writeback() against the page before returning from
240writepage.
241
242That is: after 2.5.12, pages which are under writeout are *not* locked. Note,
243if the filesystem needs the page to be locked during writeout, that is ok, too,
244the page is allowed to be unlocked at any point in time between the calls to
245set_page_writeback() and end_page_writeback().
246
247Note, failure to run either redirty_page_for_writepage() or the combination of
248set_page_writeback()/end_page_writeback() on a page submitted to writepage
249will leave the page itself marked clean but it will be tagged as dirty in the
250radix tree. This incoherency can lead to all sorts of hard-to-debug problems
251in the filesystem like having dirty inodes at umount and losing written data.
252
253 ->sync_page() locking rules are not well-defined - usually it is called
254with lock on page, but that is not guaranteed. Considering the currently
255existing instances of this method ->sync_page() itself doesn't look
256well-defined...
257
258 ->writepages() is used for periodic writeback and for syscall-initiated
259sync operations. The address_space should start I/O against at least
260*nr_to_write pages. *nr_to_write must be decremented for each page which is
261written. The address_space implementation may write more (or less) pages
262than *nr_to_write asks for, but it should try to be reasonably close. If
263nr_to_write is NULL, all dirty pages must be written.
264
265writepages should _only_ write pages which are present on
266mapping->io_pages.
267
268 ->set_page_dirty() is called from various places in the kernel
269when the target page is marked as needing writeback. It may be called
270under spinlock (it cannot block) and is sometimes called with the page
271not locked.
272
273 ->bmap() is currently used by legacy ioctl() (FIBMAP) provided by some
274filesystems and by the swapper. The latter will eventually go away. All
275instances do not actually need the BKL. Please, keep it that way and don't
276breed new callers.
277
278 ->invalidatepage() is called when the filesystem must attempt to drop
279some or all of the buffers from the page when it is being truncated. It
280returns zero on success. If ->invalidatepage is zero, the kernel uses
281block_invalidatepage() instead.
282
283 ->releasepage() is called when the kernel is about to try to drop the
284buffers from the page in preparation for freeing it. It returns zero to
285indicate that the buffers are (or may be) freeable. If ->releasepage is zero,
286the kernel assumes that the fs has no private interest in the buffers.
287
e3db7691
TM
288 ->launder_page() may be called prior to releasing a page if
289it is still found to be dirty. It returns zero if the page was successfully
290cleaned, or an error value if not. Note that in order to prevent the page
291getting mapped back in and redirtied, it needs to be kept locked
292across the entire operation.
293
1da177e4
LT
294 Note: currently almost all instances of address_space methods are
295using BKL for internal serialization and that's one of the worst sources
296of contention. Normally they are calling library functions (in fs/buffer.c)
297and pass foo_get_block() as a callback (on local block-based filesystems,
298indeed). BKL is not needed for library stuff and is usually taken by
299foo_get_block(). It's an overkill, since block bitmaps can be protected by
300internal fs locking and real critical areas are much smaller than the areas
301filesystems protect now.
302
303----------------------- file_lock_operations ------------------------------
304prototypes:
305 void (*fl_insert)(struct file_lock *); /* lock insertion callback */
306 void (*fl_remove)(struct file_lock *); /* lock removal callback */
307 void (*fl_copy_lock)(struct file_lock *, struct file_lock *);
308 void (*fl_release_private)(struct file_lock *);
309
310
311locking rules:
312 BKL may block
313fl_insert: yes no
314fl_remove: yes no
315fl_copy_lock: yes no
316fl_release_private: yes yes
317
318----------------------- lock_manager_operations ---------------------------
319prototypes:
320 int (*fl_compare_owner)(struct file_lock *, struct file_lock *);
321 void (*fl_notify)(struct file_lock *); /* unblock callback */
322 void (*fl_copy_lock)(struct file_lock *, struct file_lock *);
323 void (*fl_release_private)(struct file_lock *);
324 void (*fl_break)(struct file_lock *); /* break_lease callback */
325
326locking rules:
327 BKL may block
328fl_compare_owner: yes no
329fl_notify: yes no
330fl_copy_lock: yes no
331fl_release_private: yes yes
332fl_break: yes no
333
334 Currently only NFSD and NLM provide instances of this class. None of the
335them block. If you have out-of-tree instances - please, show up. Locking
336in that area will change.
337--------------------------- buffer_head -----------------------------------
338prototypes:
339 void (*b_end_io)(struct buffer_head *bh, int uptodate);
340
341locking rules:
342 called from interrupts. In other words, extreme care is needed here.
343bh is locked, but that's all warranties we have here. Currently only RAID1,
344highmem, fs/buffer.c, and fs/ntfs/aops.c are providing these. Block devices
345call this method upon the IO completion.
346
347--------------------------- block_device_operations -----------------------
348prototypes:
349 int (*open) (struct inode *, struct file *);
350 int (*release) (struct inode *, struct file *);
351 int (*ioctl) (struct inode *, struct file *, unsigned, unsigned long);
352 int (*media_changed) (struct gendisk *);
353 int (*revalidate_disk) (struct gendisk *);
354
355locking rules:
356 BKL bd_sem
357open: yes yes
358release: yes yes
359ioctl: yes no
360media_changed: no no
361revalidate_disk: no no
362
363The last two are called only from check_disk_change().
364
365--------------------------- file_operations -------------------------------
366prototypes:
367 loff_t (*llseek) (struct file *, loff_t, int);
368 ssize_t (*read) (struct file *, char __user *, size_t, loff_t *);
1da177e4 369 ssize_t (*write) (struct file *, const char __user *, size_t, loff_t *);
027445c3
BP
370 ssize_t (*aio_read) (struct kiocb *, const struct iovec *, unsigned long, loff_t);
371 ssize_t (*aio_write) (struct kiocb *, const struct iovec *, unsigned long, loff_t);
1da177e4
LT
372 int (*readdir) (struct file *, void *, filldir_t);
373 unsigned int (*poll) (struct file *, struct poll_table_struct *);
374 int (*ioctl) (struct inode *, struct file *, unsigned int,
375 unsigned long);
376 long (*unlocked_ioctl) (struct file *, unsigned int, unsigned long);
377 long (*compat_ioctl) (struct file *, unsigned int, unsigned long);
378 int (*mmap) (struct file *, struct vm_area_struct *);
379 int (*open) (struct inode *, struct file *);
380 int (*flush) (struct file *);
381 int (*release) (struct inode *, struct file *);
382 int (*fsync) (struct file *, struct dentry *, int datasync);
383 int (*aio_fsync) (struct kiocb *, int datasync);
384 int (*fasync) (int, struct file *, int);
385 int (*lock) (struct file *, int, struct file_lock *);
386 ssize_t (*readv) (struct file *, const struct iovec *, unsigned long,
387 loff_t *);
388 ssize_t (*writev) (struct file *, const struct iovec *, unsigned long,
389 loff_t *);
390 ssize_t (*sendfile) (struct file *, loff_t *, size_t, read_actor_t,
391 void __user *);
392 ssize_t (*sendpage) (struct file *, struct page *, int, size_t,
393 loff_t *, int);
394 unsigned long (*get_unmapped_area)(struct file *, unsigned long,
395 unsigned long, unsigned long, unsigned long);
396 int (*check_flags)(int);
397 int (*dir_notify)(struct file *, unsigned long);
398};
399
400locking rules:
401 All except ->poll() may block.
402 BKL
403llseek: no (see below)
404read: no
405aio_read: no
406write: no
407aio_write: no
408readdir: no
409poll: no
410ioctl: yes (see below)
411unlocked_ioctl: no (see below)
412compat_ioctl: no
413mmap: no
adaae721 414open: no
1da177e4
LT
415flush: no
416release: no
417fsync: no (see below)
418aio_fsync: no
adaae721 419fasync: no
1da177e4
LT
420lock: yes
421readv: no
422writev: no
423sendfile: no
424sendpage: no
425get_unmapped_area: no
426check_flags: no
427dir_notify: no
428
429->llseek() locking has moved from llseek to the individual llseek
430implementations. If your fs is not using generic_file_llseek, you
431need to acquire and release the appropriate locks in your ->llseek().
432For many filesystems, it is probably safe to acquire the inode
433semaphore. Note some filesystems (i.e. remote ones) provide no
434protection for i_size so you will need to use the BKL.
435
1da177e4
LT
436Note: ext2_release() was *the* source of contention on fs-intensive
437loads and dropping BKL on ->release() helps to get rid of that (we still
438grab BKL for cases when we close a file that had been opened r/w, but that
439can and should be done using the internal locking with smaller critical areas).
440Current worst offender is ext2_get_block()...
441
442->fasync() is a mess. This area needs a big cleanup and that will probably
443affect locking.
444
445->readdir() and ->ioctl() on directories must be changed. Ideally we would
446move ->readdir() to inode_operations and use a separate method for directory
447->ioctl() or kill the latter completely. One of the problems is that for
448anything that resembles union-mount we won't have a struct file for all
449components. And there are other reasons why the current interface is a mess...
450
451->ioctl() on regular files is superceded by the ->unlocked_ioctl() that
452doesn't take the BKL.
453
454->read on directories probably must go away - we should just enforce -EISDIR
455in sys_read() and friends.
456
a7bc02f4 457->fsync() has i_mutex on inode.
1da177e4
LT
458
459--------------------------- dquot_operations -------------------------------
460prototypes:
461 int (*initialize) (struct inode *, int);
462 int (*drop) (struct inode *);
463 int (*alloc_space) (struct inode *, qsize_t, int);
464 int (*alloc_inode) (const struct inode *, unsigned long);
465 int (*free_space) (struct inode *, qsize_t);
466 int (*free_inode) (const struct inode *, unsigned long);
467 int (*transfer) (struct inode *, struct iattr *);
468 int (*write_dquot) (struct dquot *);
469 int (*acquire_dquot) (struct dquot *);
470 int (*release_dquot) (struct dquot *);
471 int (*mark_dirty) (struct dquot *);
472 int (*write_info) (struct super_block *, int);
473
474These operations are intended to be more or less wrapping functions that ensure
475a proper locking wrt the filesystem and call the generic quota operations.
476
477What filesystem should expect from the generic quota functions:
478
479 FS recursion Held locks when called
480initialize: yes maybe dqonoff_sem
481drop: yes -
482alloc_space: ->mark_dirty() -
483alloc_inode: ->mark_dirty() -
484free_space: ->mark_dirty() -
485free_inode: ->mark_dirty() -
486transfer: yes -
487write_dquot: yes dqonoff_sem or dqptr_sem
488acquire_dquot: yes dqonoff_sem or dqptr_sem
489release_dquot: yes dqonoff_sem or dqptr_sem
490mark_dirty: no -
491write_info: yes dqonoff_sem
492
493FS recursion means calling ->quota_read() and ->quota_write() from superblock
494operations.
495
496->alloc_space(), ->alloc_inode(), ->free_space(), ->free_inode() are called
497only directly by the filesystem and do not call any fs functions only
498the ->mark_dirty() operation.
499
500More details about quota locking can be found in fs/dquot.c.
501
502--------------------------- vm_operations_struct -----------------------------
503prototypes:
504 void (*open)(struct vm_area_struct*);
505 void (*close)(struct vm_area_struct*);
d0217ac0 506 int (*fault)(struct vm_area_struct*, struct vm_fault *);
ed2f2f9b 507 int (*page_mkwrite)(struct vm_area_struct *, struct page *);
28b2ee20 508 int (*access)(struct vm_area_struct *, unsigned long, void*, int, int);
1da177e4
LT
509
510locking rules:
ed2f2f9b 511 BKL mmap_sem PageLocked(page)
1da177e4
LT
512open: no yes
513close: no yes
54cb8821 514fault: no yes
ed2f2f9b 515page_mkwrite: no yes no
28b2ee20 516access: no yes
ed2f2f9b
MF
517
518 ->page_mkwrite() is called when a previously read-only page is
519about to become writeable. The file system is responsible for
520protecting against truncate races. Once appropriate action has been
521taking to lock out truncate, the page range should be verified to be
522within i_size. The page mapping should also be checked that it is not
523NULL.
1da177e4 524
28b2ee20
RR
525 ->access() is called when get_user_pages() fails in
526acces_process_vm(), typically used to debug a process through
527/proc/pid/mem or ptrace. This function is needed only for
528VM_IO | VM_PFNMAP VMAs.
529
1da177e4
LT
530================================================================================
531 Dubious stuff
532
533(if you break something or notice that it is broken and do not fix it yourself
534- at least put it here)
535
536ipc/shm.c::shm_delete() - may need BKL.
537->read() and ->write() in many drivers are (probably) missing BKL.
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