[PATCH v2] overlayfs.rst: remove mention of workdir needing to be empty

[PATCH v2] overlayfs.rst: remove mention of workdir needing to be empty

[Jesse Van Gavere via B4 Relay]

From: Jesse Van Gavere <jesse.vangavere@teledyne.com>

This requirement has not been true since v4.8 when automatic cleanup was
added in commit eea2fb4851e9 ("ovl: proper cleanup of workdir")

Signed-off-by: Jesse Van Gavere <jesse.vangavere@teledyne.com>
---
Changes in v2:
- Handle remark from Amir Goldstein to drop workdir cleanup reference
- Link to v1: https://patch.msgid.link/20260715-overlayfs-rst-update-v1-1-70625a67880e@teledyne.com

To: Miklos Szeredi <miklos@szeredi.hu>
To: Amir Goldstein <amir73il@gmail.com>
To: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
To: Shuah Khan <skhan@linuxfoundation.org>
Cc: linux-unionfs@vger.kernel.org
Cc: linux-doc@vger.kernel.org
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
---
 Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst | 3 +--
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst
index eb846518e6ac..ba41c0694e62 100644
--- a/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst
@@ -123,8 +123,7 @@ At mount time, the two directories given as mount options "lowerdir" and
   mount -t overlay overlay -olowerdir=/lower,upperdir=/upper,\
   workdir=/work /merged
 
-The "workdir" needs to be an empty directory on the same filesystem
-as upperdir.
+The "workdir" needs to be a directory on the same filesystem as upperdir.
 
 Then whenever a lookup is requested in such a merged directory, the
 lookup is performed in each actual directory and the combined result

---
base-commit: 58717b2a1365d06c8c64b72aa948541b53fe31eb
change-id: 20260715-overlayfs-rst-update-750d58792f79

Best regards,
--  
Jesse Van Gavere <jesse.vangavere@teledyne.com>

Re: [PATCH v2] overlayfs.rst: remove mention of workdir needing to be empty

[Amir Goldstein]

On Thu, Jul 16, 2026 at 8:23 AM Jesse Van Gavere via B4 Relay
<devnull+jesse.vangavere.teledyne.com@kernel.org> wrote:
>
> From: Jesse Van Gavere <jesse.vangavere@teledyne.com>
>
> This requirement has not been true since v4.8 when automatic cleanup was
> added in commit eea2fb4851e9 ("ovl: proper cleanup of workdir")
>
> Signed-off-by: Jesse Van Gavere <jesse.vangavere@teledyne.com>

Reviewed-by: Amir Goldstein <amir73il@gmail.com>

Jon,

Can you please pick this one?

Thanks,
Amir.

> ---
> Changes in v2:
> - Handle remark from Amir Goldstein to drop workdir cleanup reference
> - Link to v1: https://patch.msgid.link/20260715-overlayfs-rst-update-v1-1-70625a67880e@teledyne.com
>
> To: Miklos Szeredi <miklos@szeredi.hu>
> To: Amir Goldstein <amir73il@gmail.com>
> To: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
> To: Shuah Khan <skhan@linuxfoundation.org>
> Cc: linux-unionfs@vger.kernel.org
> Cc: linux-doc@vger.kernel.org
> Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
> ---
>  Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst | 3 +--
>  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst
> index eb846518e6ac..ba41c0694e62 100644
> --- a/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst
> @@ -123,8 +123,7 @@ At mount time, the two directories given as mount options "lowerdir" and
>    mount -t overlay overlay -olowerdir=/lower,upperdir=/upper,\
>    workdir=/work /merged
>
> -The "workdir" needs to be an empty directory on the same filesystem
> -as upperdir.
> +The "workdir" needs to be a directory on the same filesystem as upperdir.
>
>  Then whenever a lookup is requested in such a merged directory, the
>  lookup is performed in each actual directory and the combined result
>
> ---
> base-commit: 58717b2a1365d06c8c64b72aa948541b53fe31eb
> change-id: 20260715-overlayfs-rst-update-750d58792f79
>
> Best regards,
> --
> Jesse Van Gavere <jesse.vangavere@teledyne.com>
>
>

Re: [PATCH v2] overlayfs.rst: remove mention of workdir needing to be empty

[Jonathan Corbet]

Amir Goldstein <amir73il@gmail.com> writes:

> On Thu, Jul 16, 2026 at 8:23 AM Jesse Van Gavere via B4 Relay
> <devnull+jesse.vangavere.teledyne.com@kernel.org> wrote:
>>
>> From: Jesse Van Gavere <jesse.vangavere@teledyne.com>
>>
>> This requirement has not been true since v4.8 when automatic cleanup was
>> added in commit eea2fb4851e9 ("ovl: proper cleanup of workdir")
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Jesse Van Gavere <jesse.vangavere@teledyne.com>
>
> Reviewed-by: Amir Goldstein <amir73il@gmail.com>
>
> Jon,
>
> Can you please pick this one?

Will do.

Thanks,

jon