Re: [PATCH] vfs: remove externs from fs.h on functions modified by i_ino widening

[Jeff Layton <jlayton@kernel.org>]

On Fri, 2026-03-06 at 23:17 +0100, Mateusz Guzik wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 06, 2026 at 08:27:01AM -0500, Jeff Layton wrote:
> > Christoph says, in response to one of the patches in the i_ino widening
> > series, which changes the prototype of several functions in fs.h:
> > 
> >     "Can you please drop all these pointless externs while you're at it?"
> > 
> > Remove extern keyword from functions touched by that patch (and a few
> > that happened to be nearby).
> > 
> 
> Is there a reason to not straight up whack the keyword from *all* funcs in
> the file?

We could but that makes merge conflicts for backporters.

In this case I'm already touching these function prototypes (well, most
of them anyway. I took some liberties with adjacent declarations). 

Doing this in a limited fashion shouldn't be a huge burden on people
backporting since we're already changing this area of the file.
Certainly we could do more cleanup in there, but that makes it trickier
to backport later patches that touch fs.h to older kernels.

Ultimately, it's a judgement call though. A one-time "let's fix all of
the warts in fs.h" patch is not out of the question, IMO.
-- 
Jeff Layton <jlayton@kernel.org>