* Re: [RFC] weird stuff in exfat_lookup()
2026-04-03 19:54 ` Al Viro
@ 2026-04-03 20:02 ` Al Viro
2026-04-13 3:33 ` Sungjong Seo
2026-04-24 7:09 ` Sungjong Seo
2 siblings, 0 replies; 9+ messages in thread
From: Al Viro @ 2026-04-03 20:02 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Sungjong Seo; +Cc: 'Namjae Jeon', linux-fsdevel, sjdev.seo
On Fri, Apr 03, 2026 at 08:54:08PM +0100, Al Viro wrote:
> + * This inode has non anonymous-DCACHE_DISCONNECTED
> + * dentry. This means, the user did ->lookup() by an
That phrase probably should be "This inode has a hashed alias dentry
with different name.", while we are at it - DCACHE_DISCONNECTED is
quite irrelevant...
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread
* RE: [RFC] weird stuff in exfat_lookup()
2026-04-03 19:54 ` Al Viro
2026-04-03 20:02 ` Al Viro
@ 2026-04-13 3:33 ` Sungjong Seo
2026-04-24 7:09 ` Sungjong Seo
2 siblings, 0 replies; 9+ messages in thread
From: Sungjong Seo @ 2026-04-13 3:33 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: 'Al Viro'
Cc: 'Namjae Jeon', linux-fsdevel, sjdev.seo, cpgs, sj1557.seo
> [with apologies for very late reply]
That's okay, no problem.
>
> On Thu, Mar 13, 2025 at 09:39:39PM +0900, Sungjong Seo wrote:
> > - thread1: while(1) { mkdir(A) and rmdir(A) }
> > - thread2: while(1) { stat(A) }
> >
> > This is due to the characteristics of exfat allowing negative dentry and
> > considering CI in d_revalidate. As mentioned in the comment,
> > unhashed-positive dentry can exist in a situation where mkdir
> > and stat are competing, and it can be dropped, but exfat_lookup has
> > been implemented to reuse(rehash) this dentry.
>
> That's an interesting scenario, but I still don't see why would we bother.
>
> Note that in your example we don't need to even look for aliases - it's
> a directory inode, so d_splice_alias() would do the right thing, no matter
> what. And for non-directories you
> * already have d_move(alias, dentry) there, which would do the
> right
> thing as well and
> * won't get an unhashed alias from d_find_alias() to start with.
>
> Frankly, I would skip the entire "look for aliases" thing in case of
> directory inodes - just let d_splice_alias() handle it. That has
> another fun benefit - exfat_d_anon_disconn() check becomes completely
> pointless. By the time we call it we have already verified that
> alias->d_parent == dentry->d_parent, so the only way to get
> exfat_d_anon_disconn(alias) to be true is to have IS_ROOT(alias),
> i.e. alias->d_parent == alias and thus alias == dentry->d_parent
> and at the very least the inode is a directory one. We obvously
> want to have it fail with -ELOOP in such case and d_splice_alias()
> does just that, so if we bypass the entire "look for an alias"
> thing for directories, the check becomes identical to
> if (alias && alias->d_parent == dentry->d_parent)
> since the last term in the current variant (!exfat_d_anon_disconn(...))
> can be dropped, along with the helper itself.
>
> Does anybody have a problem with patch below?
Seems right!
In fact, exFAT does not support symlinks, shortname aliases, or export_ops.
So, all it has to do here is handle case insensitivity for the same name.
Later, it seems we might also need to check the exfat_d_revalidate().
I greatly appreciate your meticulous review of the exFAT lookup operation
and the patches you provided. I will check if there are any issues with
the existing scenario along with the patch review. However, I am currently
super busy with my main job, so it would take some time.
Thanks!
>
> [PATCH] simplify exfat_lookup()
>
> 1) d_splice_alias() handles ERR_PTR() for inode just fine
> 2) no need to even look for existing aliases in case of directory inodes;
> just punt to d_splice_alias(), it'll do the right thing
> 3) no need to bother with 'd_unhashed(alias)' case - d_find_alias()
> would've returned that only in case of a directory, and d_splice_alias()
> will handle that just fine on its own.
> 4) exfat_d_anon_disconn() is entirely pointless now - we only get to
> evaluating it in case dentry->d_parent == alias->d_parent and
> alias being a non-directory. But in that case IS_ROOT(alias) can't
> possibly be true - that would've reqiured alias == alias->d_parent,
> i.e alias == dentry->d_parent and dentry->d_parent is guaranteed to
> be a directory. So exfat_d_anon_disconn() would always return false
> when it's called, which makes && !exfat_d_anon_disconn(alias)
> a no-op.
>
> Signed-off-by: Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>
> ---
> diff --git a/fs/exfat/namei.c b/fs/exfat/namei.c
> index 670116ae9ec8..8fac39f2bcb3 100644
> --- a/fs/exfat/namei.c
> +++ b/fs/exfat/namei.c
> @@ -711,71 +711,44 @@ static int exfat_find(struct inode *dir, const
> struct qstr *qname,
> return 0;
> }
>
> -static int exfat_d_anon_disconn(struct dentry *dentry)
> -{
> - return IS_ROOT(dentry) && (dentry->d_flags & DCACHE_DISCONNECTED);
> -}
> -
> static struct dentry *exfat_lookup(struct inode *dir, struct dentry
> *dentry,
> unsigned int flags)
> {
> struct super_block *sb = dir->i_sb;
> - struct inode *inode;
> + struct inode *inode = NULL;
> struct dentry *alias;
> struct exfat_dir_entry info;
> int err;
> loff_t i_pos;
> - mode_t i_mode;
>
> mutex_lock(&EXFAT_SB(sb)->s_lock);
> err = exfat_find(dir, &dentry->d_name, &info);
> if (err) {
> - if (err == -ENOENT) {
> - inode = NULL;
> - goto out;
> - }
> - goto unlock;
> + if (unlikely(err != -ENOENT))
> + inode = ERR_PTR(err);
> + goto out;
> }
>
> i_pos = exfat_make_i_pos(&info);
> inode = exfat_build_inode(sb, &info, i_pos);
> - err = PTR_ERR_OR_ZERO(inode);
> - if (err)
> - goto unlock;
> + if (IS_ERR(inode) || S_ISDIR(inode->i_mode))
> + goto out;
>
> - i_mode = inode->i_mode;
> alias = d_find_alias(inode);
>
> /*
> * Checking "alias->d_parent == dentry->d_parent" to make sure
> * FS is not corrupted (especially double linked dir).
> */
> - if (alias && alias->d_parent == dentry->d_parent &&
> - !exfat_d_anon_disconn(alias)) {
> -
> + if (alias && alias->d_parent == dentry->d_parent) {
> /*
> - * Unhashed alias is able to exist because of revalidate()
> - * called by lookup_fast. You can easily make this status
> - * by calling create and lookup concurrently
> - * In such case, we reuse an alias instead of new dentry
> + * This inode has non anonymous-DCACHE_DISCONNECTED
> + * dentry. This means, the user did ->lookup() by an
> + * another name (longname vs 8.3 alias of it) in past.
> + *
> + * Switch to new one for reason of locality if possible.
> */
> - if (d_unhashed(alias)) {
> - WARN_ON(alias->d_name.hash_len !=
> - dentry->d_name.hash_len);
> - exfat_info(sb, "rehashed a dentry(%p) in read
lookup",
> - alias);
> - d_drop(dentry);
> - d_rehash(alias);
> - } else if (!S_ISDIR(i_mode)) {
> - /*
> - * This inode has non anonymous-DCACHE_DISCONNECTED
> - * dentry. This means, the user did ->lookup() by an
> - * another name (longname vs 8.3 alias of it) in
past.
> - *
> - * Switch to new one for reason of locality if
> possible.
> - */
> - d_move(alias, dentry);
> - }
> + d_move(alias, dentry);
> iput(inode);
> mutex_unlock(&EXFAT_SB(sb)->s_lock);
> return alias;
> @@ -787,9 +760,6 @@ static struct dentry *exfat_lookup(struct inode *dir,
> struct dentry *dentry,
> exfat_d_version_set(dentry, inode_query_iversion(dir));
>
> return d_splice_alias(inode, dentry);
> -unlock:
> - mutex_unlock(&EXFAT_SB(sb)->s_lock);
> - return ERR_PTR(err);
> }
>
> /* remove an entry, BUT don't truncate */
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread* RE: [RFC] weird stuff in exfat_lookup()
2026-04-03 19:54 ` Al Viro
2026-04-03 20:02 ` Al Viro
2026-04-13 3:33 ` Sungjong Seo
@ 2026-04-24 7:09 ` Sungjong Seo
2026-04-27 13:27 ` Namjae Jeon
2 siblings, 1 reply; 9+ messages in thread
From: Sungjong Seo @ 2026-04-24 7:09 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: 'Al Viro'
Cc: 'Namjae Jeon', linux-fsdevel, sjdev.seo, cpgs, sj1557.seo,
sjdev.seo
Hi!
> > [with apologies for very late reply]
> That's okay, no problem.
>
> >
> > On Thu, Mar 13, 2025 at 09:39:39PM +0900, Sungjong Seo wrote:
> > > - thread1: while(1) { mkdir(A) and rmdir(A) }
> > > - thread2: while(1) { stat(A) }
> > >
> > > This is due to the characteristics of exfat allowing negative dentry
> > > and considering CI in d_revalidate. As mentioned in the comment,
> > > unhashed-positive dentry can exist in a situation where mkdir and
> > > stat are competing, and it can be dropped, but exfat_lookup has been
> > > implemented to reuse(rehash) this dentry.
> >
> > That's an interesting scenario, but I still don't see why would we
> bother.
> >
> > Note that in your example we don't need to even look for aliases -
> > it's a directory inode, so d_splice_alias() would do the right thing,
> > no matter what. And for non-directories you
> > * already have d_move(alias, dentry) there, which would do the
> right
> > thing as well and
> > * won't get an unhashed alias from d_find_alias() to start with.
> >
> > Frankly, I would skip the entire "look for aliases" thing in case of
> > directory inodes - just let d_splice_alias() handle it. That has
> > another fun benefit - exfat_d_anon_disconn() check becomes completely
> > pointless. By the time we call it we have already verified that
> > alias->d_parent == dentry->d_parent, so the only way to get
> > exfat_d_anon_disconn(alias) to be true is to have IS_ROOT(alias), i.e.
> > alias->d_parent == alias and thus alias == dentry->d_parent and at the
> > very least the inode is a directory one. We obvously want to have it
> > fail with -ELOOP in such case and d_splice_alias() does just that, so
> > if we bypass the entire "look for an alias"
> > thing for directories, the check becomes identical to
> > if (alias && alias->d_parent == dentry->d_parent) since the last
> term
> > in the current variant (!exfat_d_anon_disconn(...)) can be dropped,
> > along with the helper itself.
> >
> > Does anybody have a problem with patch below?
>
> Seems right!
> In fact, exFAT does not support symlinks, shortname aliases, or
export_ops.
> So, all it has to do here is handle case insensitivity for the same name.
> Later, it seems we might also need to check the exfat_d_revalidate().
>
> I greatly appreciate your meticulous review of the exFAT lookup operation
> and the patches you provided. I will check if there are any issues with
> the existing scenario along with the patch review. However, I am currently
> super busy with my main job, so it would take some time.
>
> Thanks!
>
> >
> > [PATCH] simplify exfat_lookup()
> >
> > 1) d_splice_alias() handles ERR_PTR() for inode just fine
> > 2) no need to even look for existing aliases in case of directory
> > inodes; just punt to d_splice_alias(), it'll do the right thing
> > 3) no need to bother with 'd_unhashed(alias)' case - d_find_alias()
> > would've returned that only in case of a directory, and
> > d_splice_alias() will handle that just fine on its own.
> > 4) exfat_d_anon_disconn() is entirely pointless now - we only get to
> > evaluating it in case dentry->d_parent == alias->d_parent and alias
> > being a non-directory. But in that case IS_ROOT(alias) can't possibly
> > be true - that would've reqiured alias == alias->d_parent, i.e alias
> > == dentry->d_parent and dentry->d_parent is guaranteed to be a
> > directory. So exfat_d_anon_disconn() would always return false when
> > it's called, which makes && !exfat_d_anon_disconn(alias) a no-op.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>
The patch looks good to me and seems to be working as intended.
Thank you for your efforts!
Reviewed-by: Sungjong Seo <sj1557.seo@samsung.com>
> > ---
> > diff --git a/fs/exfat/namei.c b/fs/exfat/namei.c index
> > 670116ae9ec8..8fac39f2bcb3 100644
> > --- a/fs/exfat/namei.c
> > +++ b/fs/exfat/namei.c
> > @@ -711,71 +711,44 @@ static int exfat_find(struct inode *dir, const
> > struct qstr *qname,
> > return 0;
> > }
> >
> > -static int exfat_d_anon_disconn(struct dentry *dentry) -{
> > - return IS_ROOT(dentry) && (dentry->d_flags & DCACHE_DISCONNECTED);
> > -}
> > -
> > static struct dentry *exfat_lookup(struct inode *dir, struct dentry
> > *dentry,
> > unsigned int flags)
> > {
> > struct super_block *sb = dir->i_sb;
> > - struct inode *inode;
> > + struct inode *inode = NULL;
> > struct dentry *alias;
> > struct exfat_dir_entry info;
> > int err;
> > loff_t i_pos;
> > - mode_t i_mode;
> >
> > mutex_lock(&EXFAT_SB(sb)->s_lock);
> > err = exfat_find(dir, &dentry->d_name, &info);
> > if (err) {
> > - if (err == -ENOENT) {
> > - inode = NULL;
> > - goto out;
> > - }
> > - goto unlock;
> > + if (unlikely(err != -ENOENT))
> > + inode = ERR_PTR(err);
> > + goto out;
> > }
> >
> > i_pos = exfat_make_i_pos(&info);
> > inode = exfat_build_inode(sb, &info, i_pos);
> > - err = PTR_ERR_OR_ZERO(inode);
> > - if (err)
> > - goto unlock;
> > + if (IS_ERR(inode) || S_ISDIR(inode->i_mode))
> > + goto out;
> >
> > - i_mode = inode->i_mode;
> > alias = d_find_alias(inode);
> >
> > /*
> > * Checking "alias->d_parent == dentry->d_parent" to make sure
> > * FS is not corrupted (especially double linked dir).
> > */
> > - if (alias && alias->d_parent == dentry->d_parent &&
> > - !exfat_d_anon_disconn(alias)) {
> > -
> > + if (alias && alias->d_parent == dentry->d_parent) {
> > /*
> > - * Unhashed alias is able to exist because of revalidate()
> > - * called by lookup_fast. You can easily make this status
> > - * by calling create and lookup concurrently
> > - * In such case, we reuse an alias instead of new dentry
> > + * This inode has non anonymous-DCACHE_DISCONNECTED
> > + * dentry. This means, the user did ->lookup() by an
> > + * another name (longname vs 8.3 alias of it) in past.
> > + *
> > + * Switch to new one for reason of locality if possible.
> > */
> > - if (d_unhashed(alias)) {
> > - WARN_ON(alias->d_name.hash_len !=
> > - dentry->d_name.hash_len);
> > - exfat_info(sb, "rehashed a dentry(%p) in read
lookup",
> > - alias);
> > - d_drop(dentry);
> > - d_rehash(alias);
> > - } else if (!S_ISDIR(i_mode)) {
> > - /*
> > - * This inode has non anonymous-DCACHE_DISCONNECTED
> > - * dentry. This means, the user did ->lookup() by an
> > - * another name (longname vs 8.3 alias of it) in
past.
> > - *
> > - * Switch to new one for reason of locality if
> > possible.
> > - */
> > - d_move(alias, dentry);
> > - }
> > + d_move(alias, dentry);
> > iput(inode);
> > mutex_unlock(&EXFAT_SB(sb)->s_lock);
> > return alias;
> > @@ -787,9 +760,6 @@ static struct dentry *exfat_lookup(struct inode
> > *dir, struct dentry *dentry,
> > exfat_d_version_set(dentry, inode_query_iversion(dir));
> >
> > return d_splice_alias(inode, dentry);
> > -unlock:
> > - mutex_unlock(&EXFAT_SB(sb)->s_lock);
> > - return ERR_PTR(err);
> > }
> >
> > /* remove an entry, BUT don't truncate */
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread* Re: [RFC] weird stuff in exfat_lookup()
2026-04-24 7:09 ` Sungjong Seo
@ 2026-04-27 13:27 ` Namjae Jeon
0 siblings, 0 replies; 9+ messages in thread
From: Namjae Jeon @ 2026-04-27 13:27 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Sungjong Seo; +Cc: Al Viro, linux-fsdevel, sjdev.seo, cpgs
> > > [PATCH] simplify exfat_lookup()
> > >
> > > 1) d_splice_alias() handles ERR_PTR() for inode just fine
> > > 2) no need to even look for existing aliases in case of directory
> > > inodes; just punt to d_splice_alias(), it'll do the right thing
> > > 3) no need to bother with 'd_unhashed(alias)' case - d_find_alias()
> > > would've returned that only in case of a directory, and
> > > d_splice_alias() will handle that just fine on its own.
> > > 4) exfat_d_anon_disconn() is entirely pointless now - we only get to
> > > evaluating it in case dentry->d_parent == alias->d_parent and alias
> > > being a non-directory. But in that case IS_ROOT(alias) can't possibly
> > > be true - that would've reqiured alias == alias->d_parent, i.e alias
> > > == dentry->d_parent and dentry->d_parent is guaranteed to be a
> > > directory. So exfat_d_anon_disconn() would always return false when
> > > it's called, which makes && !exfat_d_anon_disconn(alias) a no-op.
> > >
> > > Signed-off-by: Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>
>
> The patch looks good to me and seems to be working as intended.
> Thank you for your efforts!
>
> Reviewed-by: Sungjong Seo <sj1557.seo@samsung.com>
Applied it to #dev.
Thanks!
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread