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From: "T.J. Mercier" <tjmercier@google.com>
To: gregkh@linuxfoundation.org, tj@kernel.org,
	driver-core@lists.linux.dev,  linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
	cgroups@vger.kernel.org,  linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org,
	jack@suse.cz, amir73il@gmail.com,  shuah@kernel.org,
	linux-kselftest@vger.kernel.org
Cc: "T.J. Mercier" <tjmercier@google.com>
Subject: [PATCH v4 0/3] kernfs: Add inotify IN_DELETE_SELF, IN_IGNORED support
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2026 21:54:45 -0800	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260220055449.3073-1-tjmercier@google.com> (raw)

This series adds support for IN_DELETE_SELF and IN_IGNORED inotify
events to kernfs files and directories.

Currently, kernfs (used by cgroup and others) supports IN_MODIFY events
but fails to notify watchers when the file is removed (e.g. during
cgroup destruction). This forces userspace monitors to maintain resource
intensive side-channels like pidfds, procfs polling, or redundant
directory watches to detect when a cgroup dies and a watched file is
removed.

By generating IN_DELETE_SELF events on destruction, we allow watchers to
rely on a single watch descriptor for the entire lifecycle of the
monitored file, reducing resource usage (file descriptors, CPU cycles)
and complexity in userspace.

The series is structured as follows:
Patch 1 preemptively addresses a race to set/clear i_nlink that would
        arise in patch 2.
Patch 2 implements the logic to generate DELETE_SELF and IGNORED events
        on file / dir removal.
Patch 3 adds selftests to verify the new behavior.

---
Changes in v4:
Clear inode i_nlink upon kernfs removal instead of calling fsnotify
from kernfs per Jan. This adds support for directories.
Abandon support for files removed from vfs_writes.
Add selftest for directory watch per Amir.
Add Amir's Ack to selftests.

Changes in v3:
Remove parent IN_DELETE notification per Amir.
  Refactored kernfs_notify_workfn to avoid grabbing parent when
  unnecessary for DELETE events as a result.
Use notify_event for fsnotify_inode call per Amir
Initialize memcg pointers to NULL in selftests
Add Amir's Ack
Add Tejun's Acks to the series

Changes in v2:
Remove unused variables from new selftests per kernel test robot
Fix kernfs_type argument per Tejun
Inline checks for FS_MODIFY, FS_DELETE in kernfs_notify_workfn per Tejun

T.J. Mercier (3):
  kernfs: Don't set_nlink for directories being removed
  kernfs: Send IN_DELETE_SELF and IN_IGNORED
  selftests: memcg: Add tests for IN_DELETE_SELF and IN_IGNORED

 fs/kernfs/dir.c                               |  32 ++++-
 fs/kernfs/inode.c                             |   2 +-
 .../selftests/cgroup/test_memcontrol.c        | 112 ++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 144 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)


base-commit: ba268514ea14b44570030e8ed2aef92a38679e85
-- 
2.53.0.414.gf7e9f6c205-goog


             reply	other threads:[~2026-02-20  5:55 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 20+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-02-20  5:54 T.J. Mercier [this message]
2026-02-20  5:54 ` [PATCH v4 1/3] kernfs: Don't set_nlink for directories being removed T.J. Mercier
2026-02-20  5:54 ` [PATCH v4 2/3] kernfs: Send IN_DELETE_SELF and IN_IGNORED T.J. Mercier
2026-02-20 15:32   ` Tejun Heo
2026-02-20 17:15     ` Amir Goldstein
2026-02-20 19:50       ` Tejun Heo
2026-02-20 20:11         ` Amir Goldstein
2026-02-20 23:32           ` Tejun Heo
2026-02-21 16:11             ` Amir Goldstein
2026-02-23 16:27               ` Tejun Heo
2026-02-24 11:03                 ` Christian Brauner
2026-03-03 14:27                   ` Amir Goldstein
2026-03-04 13:26                     ` Christian Brauner
2026-02-20  5:54 ` [PATCH v4 3/3] selftests: memcg: Add tests for " T.J. Mercier
2026-02-20 17:43   ` Amir Goldstein
2026-02-20 17:46     ` T.J. Mercier
2026-02-20 17:53       ` T.J. Mercier
2026-02-20 18:01         ` Amir Goldstein
2026-02-20 10:14 ` [syzbot ci] Re: kernfs: Add inotify IN_DELETE_SELF, IN_IGNORED support syzbot ci
2026-02-20 18:41   ` T.J. Mercier

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