Re: [PATCH v5 2/2] erofs: reuse superblock for file-backed mounts

[Gao Xiang <xiang@kernel.org>]

Hi Giuseppe,

On Tue, Aug 11, 2026 at 09:10:51AM +0200, Giuseppe Scrivano wrote:
> When the same file-backed image is mounted multiple times (via path or
> fd) with the superblock_share mount option, reuse the existing
> superblock instead of creating a new one.  This allows multiple mounts
> of the same image to share in-kernel data structures more efficiently.
> 
> The backing file is identified by its inode and fsoffset.  If mount
> options conflict or extra devices are used, a separate superblock
> is created transparently as a fallback.  Remount is not allowed on
> shared superblocks.
> 
> Tested by mounting a 177M Fedora EROFS image 20 times with full
> traversal:
> 
>   #!/bin/sh
>   IMG=${1:-/root/fedora.erofs}
>   OPTS=${2:+-o $2}
>   N=20
>   DIR=$(mktemp -d)
>   trap "umount $DIR/m* 2>/dev/null; rm -rf $DIR" EXIT
> 
>   sync; echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
>   INODES_BEFORE=$(grep erofs_inode /proc/slabinfo | awk '{print $2}')
>   MEM_BEFORE=$(grep ^Slab: /proc/meminfo | awk '{print $2}')
> 
>   for i in $(seq 1 $N); do
>       mkdir $DIR/m$i
>       mount -t erofs $OPTS "$IMG" $DIR/m$i
>       find $DIR/m$i > /dev/null
>   done
> 
>   echo "Superblocks: $(grep $DIR /proc/self/mountinfo | \
>       awk '{print $3}' | sort -u | wc -l)"
>   echo "erofs_inode delta: +$(( $(grep erofs_inode /proc/slabinfo | \
>       awk '{print $2}') - INODES_BEFORE ))"
>   echo "Slab delta: +$(( $(grep ^Slab: /proc/meminfo | \
>       awk '{print $2}') - MEM_BEFORE )) kB"
> 
> without superblock_share:
> 
>   # time ./test.sh /root/fedora.erofs
>   Superblocks: 20
>   erofs_inode delta: +45864
>   Slab delta: +37448 kB
>   real	0m2.311s
>   user	0m0.222s
>   sys	0m1.998s
> 
> with superblock_share:
> 
>   # time ./test.sh /root/fedora.erofs superblock_share
>   Superblocks: 1
>   erofs_inode delta: +2044
>   Slab delta: +284 kB
>   real	0m0.679s
>   user	0m0.157s
>   sys	0m0.469s
> 
> The time difference shows that sharing the superblock also benefits
> the page cache and inode cache, as subsequent mounts of the same image
> avoid re-reading the backing file.  This is particularly useful for
> container hosts running multiple containers from the same base image.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Giuseppe Scrivano <gscrivan@redhat.com>

Thanks for the patch.

It generally looks good to me. Just some minor nits:

> ---
>  Documentation/filesystems/erofs.rst |  8 ++++
>  fs/erofs/internal.h                 |  1 +
>  fs/erofs/super.c                    | 58 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
>  3 files changed, 64 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/erofs.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/erofs.rst
> index d301d9ac946a..49c4e7dbc5d6 100644
> --- a/Documentation/filesystems/erofs.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/erofs.rst
> @@ -139,6 +139,9 @@ inode_share            Enable inode page sharing for this filesystem.  Inodes wi
>                         page cache.
>  source=%s              (For file-backed mounts) Specify the backing image as a path
>                         or as an already-opened file descriptor.
> +superblock_share       (For file-backed mounts) Share the superblock when the same
> +                       backing file is mounted more than once with compatible
> +                       options.  Remount is not allowed on shared superblocks.
>  ===================    =========================================================
>  
>  File-backed mounts
> @@ -156,6 +159,11 @@ Only regular files are accepted as backing files; to mount an image that
>  resides on a block device, use the traditional block device mount path
>  instead.
>  
> +When superblock_share is specified and the same backing file (identified
> +by inode and fsoffset) is mounted more than once with compatible mount
> +options, the kernel reuses the existing superblock instead of creating a

When superblock_share is specified, multiple mounts of the same backing
file at the same fsoffset with compatible mount options can share a single
superblock.  Remount is now allowed on shared superblocks.

> +new one.  Remount is not allowed on shared superblocks.
> +
>  Sysfs Entries
>  =============
>  
> diff --git a/fs/erofs/internal.h b/fs/erofs/internal.h
> index 580f8d9f14e7..8d65cac35702 100644
> --- a/fs/erofs/internal.h
> +++ b/fs/erofs/internal.h
> @@ -156,6 +156,7 @@ struct erofs_sb_info {
>  #define EROFS_MOUNT_DAX_NEVER		0x00000080
>  #define EROFS_MOUNT_DIRECT_IO		0x00000100
>  #define EROFS_MOUNT_INODE_SHARE		0x00000200
> +#define EROFS_MOUNT_SUPERBLOCK_SHARE	0x00000400
>  
>  #define clear_opt(opt, option)	((opt)->mount_opt &= ~EROFS_MOUNT_##option)
>  #define set_opt(opt, option)	((opt)->mount_opt |= EROFS_MOUNT_##option)
> diff --git a/fs/erofs/super.c b/fs/erofs/super.c
> index d40961248a49..72d654ce49b7 100644
> --- a/fs/erofs/super.c
> +++ b/fs/erofs/super.c
> @@ -386,7 +386,7 @@ static void erofs_default_options(struct erofs_sb_info *sbi)
>  enum {
>  	Opt_user_xattr, Opt_acl, Opt_cache_strategy, Opt_dax, Opt_dax_enum,
>  	Opt_device, Opt_domain_id, Opt_directio, Opt_fsoffset, Opt_inode_share,
> -	Opt_source,
> +	Opt_source, Opt_superblock_share,
>  };
>  
>  static const struct constant_table erofs_param_cache_strategy[] = {
> @@ -415,6 +415,7 @@ static const struct fs_parameter_spec erofs_fs_parameters[] = {
>  	fsparam_u64("fsoffset",			Opt_fsoffset),
>  	fsparam_flag("inode_share",		Opt_inode_share),
>  	fsparam_file_or_string("source",	Opt_source),
> +	fsparam_flag("superblock_share",	Opt_superblock_share),
>  	{}
>  };
>  
> @@ -560,6 +561,12 @@ static int erofs_fc_parse_param(struct fs_context *fc,
>  		else
>  			set_opt(&sbi->opt, INODE_SHARE);
>  		break;
> +	case Opt_superblock_share:
> +		if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_EROFS_FS_BACKED_BY_FILE))
> +			errorfc(fc, "%s option not supported", erofs_fs_parameters[opt].name);
> +		else
> +			set_opt(&sbi->opt, SUPERBLOCK_SHARE);
> +		break;
>  	case Opt_source:
>  		return erofs_fc_parse_source(fc, param);
>  	}
> @@ -663,6 +670,17 @@ static int erofs_fc_fill_super(struct super_block *sb, struct fs_context *fc)
>  		errorfc(fc, "FSDAX is not allowed when inode_share is on");
>  		return -EINVAL;
>  	}
> +	if (test_opt(&sbi->opt, SUPERBLOCK_SHARE) &&
> +	    test_opt(&sbi->opt, INODE_SHARE)) {
> +		errorfc(fc, "superblock_share is not allowed when inode_share is on");
> +		return -EINVAL;
> +	}
> +	/* Extra devices are not yet supported with superblock sharing.  */

Okay, if the comment is added here, I don't think it's helpful since the
error message indicates the same.

> +	if (test_opt(&sbi->opt, SUPERBLOCK_SHARE) &&
> +	    sbi->devs->extra_devices) {
> +		errorfc(fc, "superblock_share does not support extra devices");
> +		return -EINVAL;
> +	}
>  
>  	sbi->blkszbits = PAGE_SHIFT;
>  	if (!sb->s_bdev) {
> @@ -788,6 +806,36 @@ static int erofs_fc_fill_super(struct super_block *sb, struct fs_context *fc)
>  	return 0;
>  }
>  

Maybe just move the comment below here:

/*
 * The function is used only with a sbi that has SUPERBLOCK_SHARE set,
 * so that the memcmp later ensures new_sbi is also shareable.
 */

> +static int erofs_fc_test_file_super(struct super_block *sb,

Can we just rename it as erofs_sb_share_test_super()?

> +				    struct fs_context *fc)
> +{
> +	/*
> +	 * The assumption is that the function is used only with a sbi that
> +	 * has SUPERBLOCK_SHARE set, so that the memcmp later ensures
> +	 * new_sbi also is shareable.
> +	 */
> +	struct erofs_sb_info *sbi = EROFS_SB(sb);
> +	struct erofs_sb_info *new_sbi = fc->s_fs_info;
> +
> +	if (sb->s_iflags & SB_I_RETIRED)
> +		return 0;
> +	if (!sbi->dif0.file || !new_sbi->dif0.file)
> +		return 0;
> +	return file_inode(sbi->dif0.file) == file_inode(new_sbi->dif0.file) &&
> +	       sbi->dif0.fsoff == new_sbi->dif0.fsoff &&
> +	       !memcmp(&sbi->opt, &new_sbi->opt, sizeof(sbi->opt));
> +}
> +
> +static int erofs_fc_get_tree_file(struct fs_context *fc)

Could we just rename it as erofs_file_get_tree()?

Thanks,
Gao Xiang