Spooling large metadata updates / Proposal for a new API/feature in the Linux Kernel (VFS/Filesystems):

Artem S. Tashkinov
2025-01-11T09:17:53Z

Hello,

I had this idea on 2021-11-07, then I thought it was wrong/stupid, now
I've asked AI and it said it was actually not bad, so I'm bringing it
forward now:

Imagine the following scenarios:

* You need to delete tens of thousands of files.
* You need to change the permissions, ownership, or security context
(chmod, chown, chcon) for tens of thousands of files.
* You need to update timestamps for tens of thousands of files.

All these operations are currently relatively slow because they are
executed sequentially, generating significant I/O overhead.

What if these operations could be spooled and performed as a single
transaction? By bundling metadata updates into one atomic operation,
such tasks could become near-instant or significantly faster. This would
also reduce the number of writes, leading to less wear and tear on
storage devices.

Does this idea make sense? If it already exists, or if there’s a reason
it wouldn’t work, please let me know.

Best regards,
Artem