[PATCH v12 11/15] vboxsf: Implement fileattr_get for case sensitivity

Chuck Lever
2026-04-29T18:07:56Z

Upper layers such as NFSD need a way to query whether a
filesystem handles filenames in a case-sensitive manner. Report
VirtualBox shared folder case handling behavior via the
FS_XFLAG_CASEFOLD flag.

The case sensitivity property is queried from the VirtualBox host
service at mount time and cached in struct vboxsf_sbi. The host
determines case sensitivity based on the underlying host filesystem
(for example, Windows NTFS is case-insensitive while Linux ext4 is
case-sensitive).

VirtualBox shared folders always preserve filename case exactly
as provided by the guest. The host interface does not expose a
separate case-preserving property; leaving
FS_XFLAG_CASENONPRESERVING unset reports the POSIX-default
case-preserving behavior, which matches vboxsf semantics.

The callback is registered in all three inode_operations
structures (directory, file, and symlink) to ensure consistent
reporting across all inode types.

Reviewed-by: Roland Mainz <roland.mainz@nrubsig.org>
Signed-off-by: Chuck Lever <chuck.lever@oracle.com>
---
fs/vboxsf/dir.c | 1 +
fs/vboxsf/file.c | 6 ++++--
fs/vboxsf/super.c | 7 +++++++
fs/vboxsf/utils.c | 30 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
fs/vboxsf/vfsmod.h | 6 ++++++
5 files changed, 48 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/vboxsf/dir.c b/fs/vboxsf/dir.c
index 42bedc4ec7af..c5bd3271aa96 100644
--- a/fs/vboxsf/dir.c
+++ b/fs/vboxsf/dir.c
@@ -477,4 +477,5 @@ const struct inode_operations vboxsf_dir_iops = {
.symlink = vboxsf_dir_symlink,
.getattr = vboxsf_getattr,
.setattr = vboxsf_setattr,
+ .fileattr_get = vboxsf_fileattr_get,
};
diff --git a/fs/vboxsf/file.c b/fs/vboxsf/file.c
index 7a7a3fbb2651..943953867e18 100644
--- a/fs/vboxsf/file.c
+++ b/fs/vboxsf/file.c
@@ -222,7 +222,8 @@ const struct file_operations vboxsf_reg_fops = {

const struct inode_operations vboxsf_reg_iops = {
.getattr = vboxsf_getattr,
- .setattr = vboxsf_setattr
+ .setattr = vboxsf_setattr,
+ .fileattr_get = vboxsf_fileattr_get,
};

static int vboxsf_read_folio(struct file *file, struct folio *folio)
@@ -389,5 +390,6 @@ static const char *vboxsf_get_link(struct dentry *dentry, struct inode *inode,
}

const struct inode_operations vboxsf_lnk_iops = {
- .get_link = vboxsf_get_link
+ .get_link = vboxsf_get_link,
+ .fileattr_get = vboxsf_fileattr_get,
};
diff --git a/fs/vboxsf/super.c b/fs/vboxsf/super.c
index a618cb093e00..a61fbab51d37 100644
--- a/fs/vboxsf/super.c
+++ b/fs/vboxsf/super.c
@@ -185,6 +185,13 @@ static int vboxsf_fill_super(struct super_block *sb, struct fs_context *fc)
if (err)
goto fail_unmap;

+ /*
+ * A failed query leaves sbi->case_insensitive false, so the
+ * mount defaults to reporting case-sensitive behavior. Do not
+ * fail the mount over an advisory attribute.
+ */
+ vboxsf_query_case_sensitive(sbi);
+
sb->s_magic = VBOXSF_SUPER_MAGIC;
sb->s_blocksize = 1024;
sb->s_maxbytes = MAX_LFS_FILESIZE;
diff --git a/fs/vboxsf/utils.c b/fs/vboxsf/utils.c
index 440e8c50629d..298bfc93255c 100644
--- a/fs/vboxsf/utils.c
+++ b/fs/vboxsf/utils.c
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
#include <linux/sizes.h>
#include <linux/pagemap.h>
#include <linux/vfs.h>
+#include <linux/fileattr.h>
#include "vfsmod.h"

struct inode *vboxsf_new_inode(struct super_block *sb)
@@ -567,3 +568,32 @@ int vboxsf_dir_read_all(struct vboxsf_sbi *sbi, struct vboxsf_dir_info *sf_d,

return err;
}
+
+int vboxsf_query_case_sensitive(struct vboxsf_sbi *sbi)
+{
+ struct shfl_volinfo volinfo = {};
+ u32 buf_len;
+ int err;
+
+ buf_len = sizeof(volinfo);
+ err = vboxsf_fsinfo(sbi->root, 0, SHFL_INFO_GET | SHFL_INFO_VOLUME,
+ &buf_len, &volinfo);
+ if (err)
+ return err;
+ if (buf_len < sizeof(volinfo))
+ return 0;
+
+ sbi->case_insensitive = !volinfo.properties.case_sensitive;
+ return 0;
+}
+
+int vboxsf_fileattr_get(struct dentry *dentry, struct file_kattr *fa)
+{
+ struct vboxsf_sbi *sbi = VBOXSF_SBI(dentry->d_sb);
+
+ if (sbi->case_insensitive) {
+ fa->fsx_xflags |= FS_XFLAG_CASEFOLD;
+ fa->flags |= FS_CASEFOLD_FL;
+ }
+ return 0;
+}
diff --git a/fs/vboxsf/vfsmod.h b/fs/vboxsf/vfsmod.h
index 05973eb89d52..b61afd0ce842 100644
--- a/fs/vboxsf/vfsmod.h
+++ b/fs/vboxsf/vfsmod.h
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ struct vboxsf_sbi {
u32 next_generation;
u32 root;
int bdi_id;
+ bool case_insensitive;
};

/* per-inode information */
@@ -111,6 +112,11 @@ void vboxsf_dir_info_free(struct vboxsf_dir_info *p);
int vboxsf_dir_read_all(struct vboxsf_sbi *sbi, struct vboxsf_dir_info *sf_d,
u64 handle);

+int vboxsf_query_case_sensitive(struct vboxsf_sbi *sbi);
+
+struct file_kattr;
+int vboxsf_fileattr_get(struct dentry *dentry, struct file_kattr *fa);
+
/* from vboxsf_wrappers.c */
int vboxsf_connect(void);
void vboxsf_disconnect(void);

--
2.53.0