mirror of https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/
 help / color / mirror / Atom feed
From: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
To: NeilBrown <neil@brown.name>
Cc: linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org,
	Alexander Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>,
	 Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>, Jori Koolstra <jkoolstra@xs4all.nl>,
	 linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
	 "Christian Brauner (Amutable)" <brauner@kernel.org>
Subject: [PATCH 1/3] fs/namei.c: update stale comments in lookup_open()
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2026 10:36:05 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260731-work-lookup-fixes-v1-1-2412b85cf65c@kernel.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260731-work-lookup-fixes-v1-0-2412b85cf65c@kernel.org>

Commit ddb6e6c72a0a ("VFS: move mnt_want_write() and locking into
lookup_open()") moved the parent inode locking into lookup_open(), but
left the comment claiming the caller has to take it.  A caller following
that comment now deadlocks, and the series added a second caller.

Describe what the function actually does.  While at it drop the claim
that it returns 0 on success and updates @path, wrong ever since
lookup_open() started returning a dentry in v5.7, and fix the reference
to lookup_open() in a comment that now sits inside lookup_open() itself.

Fixes: ddb6e6c72a0a ("VFS: move mnt_want_write() and locking into lookup_open()")
Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner (Amutable) <brauner@kernel.org>
---
 fs/namei.c | 20 +++++++++-----------
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/namei.c b/fs/namei.c
index 6db5b7e8547b..226abf613983 100644
--- a/fs/namei.c
+++ b/fs/namei.c
@@ -4417,17 +4417,16 @@ static struct dentry *atomic_open(const struct path *path, struct dentry *dentry
 /*
  * Look up and maybe create and open the last component.
  *
- * Must be called with parent locked (exclusive in O_CREAT case).
+ * Takes the parent inode lock itself, exclusive if O_CREAT was requested and
+ * shared otherwise, and drops it again before returning.  The caller must not
+ * hold it.
  *
- * Returns 0 on success, that is, if
- *  the file was successfully atomically created (if necessary) and opened, or
- *  the file was not completely opened at this time, though lookups and
- *  creations were performed.
- * These case are distinguished by presence of FMODE_OPENED on file->f_mode.
- * In the latter case dentry returned in @path might be negative if O_CREAT
- * hadn't been specified.
+ * On success returns the dentry of the last component.  If FMODE_OPENED is set
+ * on file->f_mode the file was also opened and attached to @file; otherwise
+ * only lookup and creation were performed and the caller has to open it.  In
+ * the latter case the dentry may be negative if O_CREAT hadn't been specified.
  *
- * An error code is returned on failure.
+ * Returns ERR_PTR() on failure.
  */
 static struct dentry *lookup_open(struct nameidata *nd, struct file *file,
 				  const struct open_flags *op)
@@ -4452,8 +4451,7 @@ static struct dentry *lookup_open(struct nameidata *nd, struct file *file,
 		got_write = !mnt_want_write(nd->path.mnt);
 		/*
 		 * do _not_ fail yet - we might not need that or fail with
-		 * a different error; let lookup_open() decide; we'll be
-		 * dropping this one anyway.
+		 * a different error; we'll be dropping this one anyway.
 		 */
 	}
 	if (open_flag & O_CREAT)

-- 
2.53.0


  reply	other threads:[~2026-07-31  8:36 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 9+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-07-31  8:36 [PATCH 0/3] fs/namei.c: comment and coding style fixups Christian Brauner
2026-07-31  8:36 ` Christian Brauner [this message]
2026-07-31  8:36 ` [PATCH 2/3] fs/namei.c: fix kerneldoc of atomic_open() and vfs_lookup_open() Christian Brauner
2026-07-31  9:11   ` Jori Koolstra
2026-07-31 10:11     ` Christian Brauner
2026-07-31  8:36 ` [PATCH 3/3] fs/namei.c: fix coding style in atomic_open() and lookup_open() Christian Brauner
2026-07-31  9:20   ` Jori Koolstra
2026-07-31 10:01     ` Christian Brauner
2026-07-31  9:08 ` [PATCH 0/3] fs/namei.c: comment and coding style fixups NeilBrown

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

  Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style

* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
  switches of git-send-email(1):

  git send-email \
    --in-reply-to=20260731-work-lookup-fixes-v1-1-2412b85cf65c@kernel.org \
    --to=brauner@kernel.org \
    --cc=jack@suse.cz \
    --cc=jkoolstra@xs4all.nl \
    --cc=linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=neil@brown.name \
    --cc=viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk \
    /path/to/YOUR_REPLY

  https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html

* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
  via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox

all inboxes | Powered by JetHome®