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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/filesystems/configfs/configfs.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/configfs/configfs.txt | 27 |
1 files changed, 27 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/configfs/configfs.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/configfs/configfs.txt index aef74cdecc21..d1b98257d000 100644 --- a/Documentation/filesystems/configfs/configfs.txt +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/configfs/configfs.txt @@ -398,6 +398,33 @@ As a consequence of this, default_groups cannot be removed directly via rmdir(2). They also are not considered when rmdir(2) on the parent group is checking for children. +[Dependant Subsystems] + +Sometimes other drivers depend on particular configfs items. For +example, ocfs2 mounts depend on a heartbeat region item. If that +region item is removed with rmdir(2), the ocfs2 mount must BUG or go +readonly. Not happy. + +configfs provides two additional API calls: configfs_depend_item() and +configfs_undepend_item(). A client driver can call +configfs_depend_item() on an existing item to tell configfs that it is +depended on. configfs will then return -EBUSY from rmdir(2) for that +item. When the item is no longer depended on, the client driver calls +configfs_undepend_item() on it. + +These API cannot be called underneath any configfs callbacks, as +they will conflict. They can block and allocate. A client driver +probably shouldn't calling them of its own gumption. Rather it should +be providing an API that external subsystems call. + +How does this work? Imagine the ocfs2 mount process. When it mounts, +it asks for a heartbeat region item. This is done via a call into the +heartbeat code. Inside the heartbeat code, the region item is looked +up. Here, the heartbeat code calls configfs_depend_item(). If it +succeeds, then heartbeat knows the region is safe to give to ocfs2. +If it fails, it was being torn down anyway, and heartbeat can gracefully +pass up an error. + [Committable Items] NOTE: Committable items are currently unimplemented. |