Re: [PATCH v7 3/4] ext4: introduce ext4_put_ea_inode() for safe deferred iput

["Zhou, Yun" <yun.zhou@windriver.com>]

Hi Honza,
> Add ext4_put_ea_inode() which safely releases EA inode references:
> when SB_ACTIVE, it calls iput() directly (write_inode_now cannot be
> triggered); during mount (!SB_ACTIVE), it queues the inode on a per-sb
> lock-free llist and schedules a worker to call iput() in a clean
> context without holding any ext4 locks.
>
> Convert the iput in ext4_xattr_block_set()'s "Drop the previous xattr
> block" path to use ext4_xattr_inode_array_free_deferred(), which
> releases EA inodes via ext4_put_ea_inode().  This path previously called
> ext4_xattr_inode_array_free() (synchronous iput) while holding xattr_sem
> and a jbd2 handle.
>
> The worker is flushed in ext4_put_super() before journal destruction to
> ensure all pending EA inode cleanup completes while the journal is still
> available.
>
>   
> +static void ext4_xattr_inode_array_free_deferred(struct super_block *sb,
> +				struct ext4_xattr_inode_array *array)
> +{
> +	int idx;
> +
> +	if (array == NULL)
> +		return;
> +
> +	for (idx = 0; idx < array->count; ++idx)
> +		ext4_put_ea_inode(sb, array->inodes[idx]);
> +	kfree(array);
> +}
> +
> +struct ext4_ea_iput_entry {
> +	struct llist_node node;
> +	struct inode *inode;
> +};
> +
> +/*
> + * Worker function for deferred EA inode iput.  Processes all inodes queued
> + * on s_ea_inode_to_free in a context free of xattr_sem/jbd2 handle locks.
> + */
> +void ext4_ea_inode_work(struct work_struct *work)
> +{
> +	struct ext4_sb_info *sbi = container_of(work, struct ext4_sb_info,
> +						s_ea_inode_work);
> +	struct llist_node *node = llist_del_all(&sbi->s_ea_inode_to_free);
> +	struct llist_node *next;
> +
> +	while (node) {
> +		struct ext4_ea_iput_entry *entry = container_of(node,
> +				struct ext4_ea_iput_entry, node);
> +		next = node->next;
> +		iput(entry->inode);
> +		kfree(entry);
> +		node = next;
> +	}
> +}
> +
> +/*
> + * Release a VFS reference on an EA inode after ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref()
> + * may have set i_nlink=0.  Must be used instead of iput() in any context
> + * where xattr_sem or a jbd2 handle is held, because eviction of a nlink=0
> + * inode can acquire those same locks.
> + *
> + * When SB_ACTIVE, eviction does not call write_inode_now() so direct
> + * iput() is safe.  During mount (!SB_ACTIVE), defer to a workqueue.
> + *
> + * For EA inode references dropped without a preceding dec_ref (e.g.,
> + * lookup-only paths where nlink remains >= 1), plain iput() is safe
> + * and preferred.
> + */
> +void ext4_put_ea_inode(struct super_block *sb, struct inode *inode)
> +{
> +	struct ext4_ea_iput_entry *entry;
> +
> +	if (!inode)
> +		return;
> +	if (sb->s_flags & SB_ACTIVE) {
> +		iput(inode);
> +		return;
> +	}
> +	entry = kmalloc(sizeof(*entry), GFP_NOFS | __GFP_NOFAIL);
> +	entry->inode = inode;
> +	llist_add(&entry->node, &EXT4_SB(sb)->s_ea_inode_to_free);
> +	schedule_work(&EXT4_SB(sb)->s_ea_inode_work);
> +}
> +
>
Could you help me check if this is the way you expected?

Thanks,
Yun