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Joanne Koong 43f8343858 fuse: add zero-copy over io-uring
Implement zero-copy in fuse io-uring to eliminate memory copies between
the application, kernel, and server for read/write operations. The
server can directly access client pages or page cache folios without
copying data through an intermediary buffer. When a fuse request arrives,
the kernel registers the relevant pages into a sparse slot in the
server's io_uring registered buffer table. The server can then operate
on these pages directly using io-uring fixed buffer operations (eg
read_fixed/write_fixed) and the kernel unregisters these pages when the
request completes. Non-page-backed args (eg op out headers) will go
through the payload buffer as normal. The server can specify which open
files should have their reads/writes go through zero-copy, by setting
the FOPEN_IO_URING_ZERO_COPY flag when servicing opens.

This requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN and bufpools. This is gated behind
CAP_SYS_ADMIN because zero-copy allows the server direct access to the
client's underlying pages, rather than operating on an intermediary
buffer that the contents of the client's pages were copied into or on
page cache folios.

The request flow for the zero-copy direct-io write path (client writes
data, server reads it) is as follows:
=======================================================================
|  Kernel                                   |  FUSE server
|                                           |
|  "write(fd, buf, 1MB)"                    |
|                                           |
|  >sys_write()                             |
|    >fuse_file_write_iter()                |
|      >fuse_send_one()                     |
|        [req->args->in_pages = true]       |
|        [folios hold client write data]    |
|                                           |
|  >fuse_uring_copy_to_ring()               |
|    >copy_header_to_ring(IN_OUT)           |
|      [memcpy fuse_in_header]              |
|    >copy_header_to_ring(OP)               |
|      [memcpy write_in header]             |
|                                           |
|    >fuse_uring_args_to_ring()             |
|      >setup_fuse_copy_state()             |
|        [skip_folio_copy = true]           |
|                                           |
|      >fuse_uring_set_up_zero_copy()       |
|        [folio_get for each client folio]  |
|        [build bio_vec array from folios]  |
|        >io_buffer_register_bvec()         |
|          [register pages at
                 ent->zero_copy_index]      |
|        [ent->zero_copied = true]          |
|                                           |
|      >fuse_copy_args()                    |
|        [skip_folio_copy => return 0       |
|         for page arg, skip data copy]     |
|                                           |
|    >copy_header_to_ring(RING_ENT)         |
|      [memcpy ent_in_out]                  |
|    >io_uring_cmd_done()                   |
|                                           |
|                                           | [CQE received]
|                                           |
|                                           | [issue io_uring READ at
|                                           |  ent->zero_copy_index]
|                                           | [reads directly from
|                                           |client's pages (ZERO_COPY)]
|                                           |
|                                           | [write data to backing
|                                           | store]
|                                           |  [submit COMMIT AND FETCH]
|                                           |
|  >fuse_uring_commit_fetch()               |
|    >fuse_uring_commit()                   |
|      >fuse_uring_copy_from_ring()         |
|    >fuse_uring_req_end()                  |
|      >io_buffer_unregister(ent->zero_copy_index) |
|        [unregister pages from index]      |
|      >fuse_zero_copy_release()            |
|        [folio_put for each folio]         |
|      [ent->zero_copied = false]           |
|      >fuse_request_end()                  |
|        [wake up client]                   |

The zero-copy read path is analogous.

Some requests may have both page-backed args and non-page-backed args.
For these requests, the page-backed args are zero-copied while the
non-page-backed args are copied to the buffer selected from the buffer
pool:
    zero-copy: pages registered via io_buffer_register_bvec()
    non-page-backed: copied to payload buffer via fuse_copy_args()

For a request whose payload is zero-copied, the
registration/unregistration path looks like:

    register:  fuse_uring_set_up_zero_copy()
                 folio_get() for each folio
                 io_buffer_register_bvec(ent->zero_copy_index)

    unregister: fuse_uring_req_end()
                  io_buffer_unregister(ent->zero_copy_index)
                  -> fuse_zero_copy_release() callback
                     folio_put() for each folio

Please note that on abort for in-flight zero-copied requests that have
been sent to userspace, the registered bvec slot remains occupied and
its folios remain pinned until the io-uring ring is destroyed, at which
point io-uring unregisters all buffers and the fuse_zero_copy_release()
callback drops the folio references. Unregistering at teardown would
require operating on the ring context directly, whose validity is hard
to ascertain; this is deemed not worth the complexity for the abort
race, since everything is freed when the ring is torn down.

The throughput improvement from zero-copy depends on how much of the
per-request latency is spent on data copying vs backing I/O. The gain
comes from eliminating the payload-buffer memcpy,  but accessing the
zero-copied pages requires the server to issue the read/write as an
IORING_OP_READ/WRITE_FIXED operation. The benefit is largest when the
mempcy is a meaningful fraction of per-request latency while backing i/o
is still noticable enough that the extra io-uring op's overhead doesn't
dominate.

Benchmarked with passthrough_hp (--nopassthrough, q_depth=8) on a
2-socket Intel Xeon Gold 6138 (40 cores / 80 threads), using fio (sync
engine, bs=1M, O_DIRECT, numjobs=2, 30s run + 10s ramp, 3 runs) where
direct-I/O throughput is against a RAM-backed (tmpfs) source (backing
I/O is not the bottleneck):

		baseline   registered-buf   zero-copy   (zc vs base)
direct read     ~5.1 GB/s  ~5.4 GB/s        ~8.9 GB/s   (+75%)
direct write    ~3.4 GB/s  ~4.8 GB/s        ~5.1 GB/s   (+50%)

Reads end up higher than writes because the backing store reads faster
than it writes (the baseline shows the same read>write gap, and the raw
device does too). On a device-bound NVMe (~2 GB/s reads) the read gain
shrinks to ~10-16% (and no measurable gains for writes), as backing I/O
rather than the eliminated copy dominates latency.

The benefit overall scales with how much of the
per-request latency is the data copy versus backing I/O.

Signed-off-by: Joanne Koong <joannelkoong@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: Bernd Schubert <bernd@bsbernd.com>
Signed-off-by: Miklos Szeredi <mszeredi@redhat.com>
2026-08-17 17:02:37 +02:00
arch - Prevent OOB access in the resctrl code while offlining 2026-07-05 05:37:46 -10:00
block block: handle REQ_OP_ZONE_APPEND in __bio_integrity_action 2026-06-24 06:53:25 -06:00
certs treewide: fix indentation and whitespace in Kconfig files 2026-05-28 21:24:42 -07:00
crypto mm.git review status for mm-hotfixes-stable..mm-nonmm-stable 2026-06-21 13:20:19 -07:00
Documentation io_uring/rsrc: rename io_buffer_register_bvec()/io_buffer_unregister_bvec() 2026-08-17 17:02:09 +02:00
drivers io_uring/rsrc: rename io_buffer_register_bvec()/io_buffer_unregister_bvec() 2026-08-17 17:02:09 +02:00
fs fuse: add zero-copy over io-uring 2026-08-17 17:02:37 +02:00
include fuse: add zero-copy over io-uring 2026-08-17 17:02:37 +02:00
init mm.git review status for mm-hotfixes-stable..mm-nonmm-stable 2026-06-21 13:20:19 -07:00
io_uring io_uring/rsrc: rename and export IO_IMU_DEST / IO_IMU_SOURCE 2026-08-17 17:02:10 +02:00
ipc kernel-7.2-rc1.misc 2026-06-15 03:05:50 +05:30
kernel Misc perf events fixes: 2026-07-05 05:34:43 -10:00
lib RISC-V updates for v7.2-rc2 2026-07-03 15:07:24 -10:00
LICENSES LICENSES: Add modern form of the LGPL-2.1 tags to the usage guide section 2025-10-22 07:58:19 +02:00
mm block-7.2-20260625 2026-06-25 09:56:47 -07:00
net Split <linux/mod_devicetable.h> in per subsystem headers 2026-07-02 20:54:26 -10:00
rust Rust changes for v7.2 (addendum) 2026-06-24 15:11:08 -07:00
samples tracing/events: Fix to check the simple_tsk_fn creation 2026-06-30 23:58:19 +09:00
scripts scripts/sorttable: Handle RISC-V patchable ftrace entries 2026-06-25 13:15:03 -06:00
security bpf: Reject BPF_MAP_TYPE_INODE_STORAGE creation if BPF LSM is uninitialized 2026-06-30 16:31:56 +02:00
sound sound fixes for 7.2-rc2 2026-07-05 05:26:45 -10:00
tools Misc perf events fixes: 2026-07-05 05:34:43 -10:00
usr kbuild: uapi: also test UAPI headers against C++ compilers 2026-03-25 13:24:42 +01:00
virt s390: 2026-06-25 10:21:13 -07:00
.clang-format clang-format: fix formatting of guard() and scoped_guard() statements 2026-05-28 21:24:41 -07:00
.clippy.toml rust: bump Clippy's MSRV and clean incompatible_msrv allows 2026-04-07 09:51:39 +02:00
.cocciconfig
.editorconfig editorconfig: add rst extension 2026-01-26 19:07:09 -08:00
.get_maintainer.ignore .get_maintainer.ignore: add myself 2026-04-02 16:48:25 +02:00
.gitattributes .gitattributes: set diff driver for Rust source code files 2023-05-31 17:48:25 +02:00
.gitignore SPDX patches for 7.2-rc1 2026-06-22 12:06:22 -07:00
.mailmap MAINTAINERS: Update Jason Wang's email address 2026-06-29 19:09:00 -07:00
.pylintrc docs: Move the python libraries to tools/lib/python 2025-11-18 09:22:40 -07:00
.rustfmt.toml rust: add .rustfmt.toml 2022-09-28 09:02:20 +02:00
COPYING COPYING: state that all contributions really are covered by this file 2020-02-10 13:32:20 -08:00
CREDITS mm.git review status for mm-hotfixes-stable..mm-nonmm-stable 2026-06-21 13:20:19 -07:00
Kbuild checksyscalls: move instance functionality into generic code 2026-04-05 09:21:32 +02:00
Kconfig io_uring: Rename KConfig to Kconfig 2025-02-19 14:53:27 -07:00
MAINTAINERS sound fixes for 7.2-rc2 2026-07-05 05:26:45 -10:00
Makefile Linux 7.2-rc2 2026-07-05 14:44:06 -10:00
README docs: add AI Coding Assistants documentation 2026-01-06 14:55:06 -07:00

Linux kernel
============

The Linux kernel is the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware,
system resources, and provides the fundamental services for all other software.

Quick Start
-----------

* Report a bug: See Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
* Get the latest kernel: https://kernel.org
* Build the kernel: See Documentation/admin-guide/quickly-build-trimmed-linux.rst
* Join the community: https://lore.kernel.org/

Essential Documentation
-----------------------

All users should be familiar with:

* Building requirements: Documentation/process/changes.rst
* Code of Conduct: Documentation/process/code-of-conduct.rst
* License: See COPYING

Documentation can be built with make htmldocs or viewed online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/


Who Are You?
============

Find your role below:

* New Kernel Developer - Getting started with kernel development
* Academic Researcher - Studying kernel internals and architecture
* Security Expert - Hardening and vulnerability analysis
* Backport/Maintenance Engineer - Maintaining stable kernels
* System Administrator - Configuring and troubleshooting
* Maintainer - Leading subsystems and reviewing patches
* Hardware Vendor - Writing drivers for new hardware
* Distribution Maintainer - Packaging kernels for distros
* AI Coding Assistant - LLMs and AI-powered development tools


For Specific Users
==================

New Kernel Developer
--------------------

Welcome! Start your kernel development journey here:

* Getting Started: Documentation/process/development-process.rst
* Your First Patch: Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
* Coding Style: Documentation/process/coding-style.rst
* Build System: Documentation/kbuild/index.rst
* Development Tools: Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
* Kernel Hacking Guide: Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst
* Core APIs: Documentation/core-api/index.rst

Academic Researcher
-------------------

Explore the kernel's architecture and internals:

* Researcher Guidelines: Documentation/process/researcher-guidelines.rst
* Memory Management: Documentation/mm/index.rst
* Scheduler: Documentation/scheduler/index.rst
* Networking Stack: Documentation/networking/index.rst
* Filesystems: Documentation/filesystems/index.rst
* RCU (Read-Copy Update): Documentation/RCU/index.rst
* Locking Primitives: Documentation/locking/index.rst
* Power Management: Documentation/power/index.rst

Security Expert
---------------

Security documentation and hardening guides:

* Security Documentation: Documentation/security/index.rst
* LSM Development: Documentation/security/lsm-development.rst
* Self Protection: Documentation/security/self-protection.rst
* Reporting Vulnerabilities: Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst
* CVE Procedures: Documentation/process/cve.rst
* Embargoed Hardware Issues: Documentation/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst
* Security Features: Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst

Backport/Maintenance Engineer
-----------------------------

Maintain and stabilize kernel versions:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* Backporting Guide: Documentation/process/backporting.rst
* Applying Patches: Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
* Subsystem Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git for Maintainers: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

System Administrator
--------------------

Configure, tune, and troubleshoot Linux systems:

* Admin Guide: Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Sysctl Tuning: Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst
* Tracing/Debugging: Documentation/trace/index.rst
* Performance Security: Documentation/admin-guide/perf-security.rst
* Hardware Monitoring: Documentation/hwmon/index.rst

Maintainer
----------

Lead kernel subsystems and manage contributions:

* Maintainer Handbook: Documentation/maintainer/index.rst
* Pull Requests: Documentation/maintainer/pull-requests.rst
* Managing Patches: Documentation/maintainer/modifying-patches.rst
* Rebasing and Merging: Documentation/maintainer/rebasing-and-merging.rst
* Development Process: Documentation/process/maintainer-handbooks.rst
* Maintainer Entry Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git Configuration: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

Hardware Vendor
---------------

Write drivers and support new hardware:

* Driver API Guide: Documentation/driver-api/index.rst
* Driver Model: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst
* Device Drivers: Documentation/driver-api/infrastructure.rst
* Bus Types: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/bus.rst
* Device Tree Bindings: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/
* Power Management: Documentation/driver-api/pm/index.rst
* DMA API: Documentation/core-api/dma-api.rst

Distribution Maintainer
-----------------------

Package and distribute the kernel:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* ABI Documentation: Documentation/ABI/README
* Kernel Configuration: Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst
* Module Signing: Documentation/admin-guide/module-signing.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Tainted Kernels: Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst

AI Coding Assistant
-------------------

CRITICAL: If you are an LLM or AI-powered coding assistant, you MUST read and
follow the AI coding assistants documentation before contributing to the Linux
kernel:

* Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst

This documentation contains essential requirements about licensing, attribution,
and the Developer Certificate of Origin that all AI tools must comply with.


Communication and Support
=========================

* Mailing Lists: https://lore.kernel.org/
* IRC: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net
* Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/
* MAINTAINERS file: Lists subsystem maintainers and mailing lists
* Email Clients: Documentation/process/email-clients.rst