Re: [RFC PATCH v5 06/10] ovl: implement overlayfs' ->write_inode operation

From: Chengguang Xu
Date: Mon Nov 15 2021 - 21:22:47 EST


---- 在 星期四, 2021-10-07 21:34:19 Miklos Szeredi <miklos@xxxxxxxxxx> 撰写 ----
> On Thu, 7 Oct 2021 at 15:10, Chengguang Xu <cgxu519@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > However that wasn't what I was asking about. AFAICS ->write_inode()
> > > won't start write back for dirty pages. Maybe I'm missing something,
> > > but there it looks as if nothing will actually trigger writeback for
> > > dirty pages in upper inode.
> > >
> >
> > Actually, page writeback on upper inode will be triggered by overlayfs ->writepages and
> > overlayfs' ->writepages will be called by vfs writeback function (i.e writeback_sb_inodes).
>
> Right.
>
> But wouldn't it be simpler to do this from ->write_inode()?
>
> I.e. call write_inode_now() as suggested by Jan.
>
> Also could just call mark_inode_dirty() on the overlay inode
> regardless of the dirty flags on the upper inode since it shouldn't
> matter and results in simpler logic.
>

Hi Miklos,

Sorry for delayed response for this, I've been busy with another project.

I agree with your suggesion above and further more how about just mark overlay inode dirty
when it has upper inode? This approach will make marking dirtiness simple enough.

Thanks,
Chengguang