Re: [PATCH 1/2] audit: Quit audit_free_names() early if name list empty

Waiman Long
2026-01-21T04:08:54Z

On 1/20/26 10:11 PM, Al Viro wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 20, 2026 at 09:35:08PM -0500, Waiman Long wrote:
>> Optimize audit_free_names() by quitting early if the name list is empty.
>> This eliminates the need to acquire and release the fs_struct spinlock
>> in path_put().
> Why would path_put() go anywhere need fs_struct spinlock???
>
path_put() is defined in include/linux/fs_struct.h. It calls
read_seq{un}lock_excl(&fs->seq) which, in turn, acquires the releases
the spinlock underneath the seqlock_t.

Cheers,
Longman