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Julian Sun 7459c02187
fs: avoid repeated scans in evict_inodes()
We observed hung tasks when users attempted to unmount a filesystem
after its disk had been removed while still in use. During device
removal, fs_bdev_mark_dead() calls evict_inodes() while holding s_umount.

Each time evict_inodes() drops s_inode_list_lock to reschedule, it
restarts the walk from the head of s_inodes. With many referenced inodes
at the head of the list, these restarts repeatedly scan the same inodes
without reclaiming them. This can keep s_umount held for a long time,
blocking concurrent umount attempts and triggering hung-task reports.

Keep the current inode, already marked I_FREEING, out of the disposal
batch until s_inode_list_lock is reacquired. Resume the walk from this
inode and dispose of it in a later batch or at the end of the walk.

The zero-refcount and state checks under i_lock allow this walker to
claim the inode by setting I_FREEING and removing it from the LRU.
Other reclaimers skip the inode, leaving this walker responsible for
eviction. Only evict() removes it from s_inodes, so keeping it out of
the disposal batch ensures that it remains on the list while the lock
is dropped. After reacquiring the lock, reading its current next pointer
accounts for concurrent removal of following inodes.

The existing inode lifetime rules prohibit acquiring a reference to an
inode marked I_FREEING or I_WILL_FREE. __iget() requires its caller to
hold i_lock and establish that taking a reference is valid. Inode lookup
and igrab() check these flags under i_lock when acquiring a reference
from zero. ihold() requires an existing reference, which would keep
i_count nonzero and prevent this walker from claiming the inode. These
rules already allow iput_final() and the inode shrinker to release
i_lock after setting I_FREEING and before eviction completes.

A temporary __iget() reference would also keep the inode on the list,
but its release must preserve last-reference handling. Another user can
acquire a reference, update lazy timestamps and drop its reference while
the pin is held. If the pin becomes the last reference, dropping it with
atomic_dec_and_test() and evicting directly bypasses iput()'s lazytime
handling and can lose those timestamp updates.

Releasing the pin with iput() preserves that handling, but does not
guarantee eviction. fs_bdev_mark_dead() runs with SB_ACTIVE set, so iput()
may retain the inode in cache, whereas evict_inodes() must evict eligible
zero-reference inodes. The inode may also have been freed when iput()
returns, so the walker cannot then use it to force eviction. Using
I_FREEING preserves the existing eviction behavior without introducing
an additional last-reference transition.

The xfstests auto group passed on ext4 and XFS with known unrelated
failures excluded. No new issues were observed, and the previously
reproducible hung task no longer occurs with this patch.

Fixes: ac05fbb400 ("inode: don't softlockup when evicting inodes")
Signed-off-by: Julian Sun <sunjunchao@bytedance.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260915044912.3183440-1-sunjunchao@bytedance.com
Reviewed-by: Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>
Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner (Amutable) <brauner@kernel.org>
2026-09-17 12:30:14 +02:00
arch * AMD device topology and machine check fixes 2026-09-08 12:54:56 -07:00
block block: save page offset gaps in cloned bio 2026-09-01 08:42:34 -06:00
certs treewide: fix indentation and whitespace in Kconfig files 2026-05-28 21:24:42 -07:00
crypto This push fixes a memory allocation overrun in crypto acomp. 2026-08-28 09:28:40 -07:00
Documentation Miscellaneous IRQ subsystem fixes: 2026-09-06 10:35:24 -07:00
drivers vduse: return compat ioctl results directly 2026-09-08 03:58:27 -04:00
fs fs: avoid repeated scans in evict_inodes() 2026-09-17 12:30:14 +02:00
include Landlock fix for v7.3-rc3 2026-09-09 11:00:35 -07:00
init vfs-7.3-rc3.fixes 2026-09-09 09:38:03 -07:00
io_uring treewide: refresh kmalloc_obj() conversions 2026-09-04 21:37:00 -07:00
ipc mm.git review status for master..mm-nonmm-stable 2026-08-23 08:07:11 -07:00
kernel vfs-7.3-rc3.fixes 2026-09-09 09:38:03 -07:00
lib block: Fix start and length check added to iov_iter_extract_bvecs() 2026-09-10 09:20:39 +02:00
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 treewide: refresh kmalloc_obj() conversions 2026-09-04 21:37:00 -07:00
net kmalloc_obj conversions for v7.3-rc2 2026-09-05 20:45:18 -07:00
rust rust: pci: reject IRQ vector indices that do not fit in u32 2026-09-01 18:21:01 +02:00
samples tracing fixes for v7.3: 2026-08-30 09:22:00 -07:00
scripts Coccinelle patches for Linux v7.3 2026-08-30 10:42:40 -07:00
security landlock: Test trace path output boundaries 2026-09-08 11:49:39 +02:00
sound treewide: refresh kmalloc_obj() conversions 2026-09-04 21:37:00 -07:00
tools selftests/filesystems: fix missing and stale TARGETS entries 2026-09-10 09:21:14 +02:00
usr usr: Correct a spelling by changing a letter 2026-08-05 14:51:58 +02:00
virt Arm: 2026-08-25 11:48:04 -07:00
.clang-format drm/bridge: rename drm_for_each_bridge_in_chain_scoped() to drm_for_each_bridge_in_chain() 2026-07-14 17:55:51 +02:00
.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 Nathan Chancellor 2026-08-03 21:10:12 -07:00
.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 drm fixes for 7.3-rc2 2026-09-04 13:42:16 -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 Driver core fixes for 7.3-rc2 2026-09-05 11:59:05 -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 vhost,vdpa,virtio: fixes 2026-09-09 08:50:05 -07:00
Makefile Linux 7.3-rc2 2026-09-06 15:07:20 -07:00
README README: remove out of place emdashes 2026-07-15 10:51:29 -06:00

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