Hi Ilya, Xiubo, [!] NOTE: This is a preview of a work in progress and doesn't yet fully compile, let alone actually work! Here are some patches that (mostly) collapse the different I/O types (PAGES, PAGELIST, BVECS, BIO) down to a single one. I added a new type, ceph_databuf, to make this easier. The page list is attached to that as a bio_vec[] with an iov_iter, but could also be some other type supported by the iov_iter. The iov_iter defines the data or buffer to be used. I have an additional iov_iter type implemented that allows use of a straight folio[] or page[] instead of a bio_vec[] that I can deploy if that proves more useful. The conversion isn't quite complete: (1) rbd is done; BVECS and BIO types are replaced with ceph_databuf. (2) ceph_osd_linger_request::preply_pages needs switching over to a ceph_databuf, but I haven't yet managed to work out how the pages that handle_watch_notify() sticks in there come about. (3) I haven't altered data transmission in net/ceph/messenger*.c yet. The aim is to reduce it to a single sendmsg() call for each ceph_msg_data struct, using the iov_iter therein. (4) The data reception routines in net/ceph/messenger*.c also need modifying to pass each ceph_msg_data::iter to recvmsg() in turn. (5) It might be possible to merge struct ceph_databuf into struct ceph_msg_data and eliminate the former. (6) fs/ceph/ still needs some work to clean up the use of page arrays. (7) I would like to change front and middle buffers with a ceph_databuf, vmapping them when we need to access them. I added a kmap_ceph_databuf_page() macro and used that to get a page and use kmap_local_page() on it to hide the bvec[] inside to make it easier to replace. Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts... I've pushed the patches here also: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/dhowells/linux-fs.git/log/?h=iov-extract David David Howells (18): iov_iter: Add function to see if buffer is all zeros ceph: Rename alignment to offset ceph: Add a new data container type, ceph_databuf ceph: Convert ceph_mds_request::r_pagelist to a databuf rbd: Use ceph_databuf for rbd_obj_read_sync() ceph: Change ceph_osdc_call()'s reply to a ceph_databuf ceph: Unexport osd_req_op_cls_request_data_pages() ceph: Remove osd_req_op_cls_response_data_pages() ceph: Convert notify_id_pages to a ceph_databuf rbd: Switch from using bvec_iter to iov_iter ceph: Remove bvec and bio data container types ceph: Convert some page arrays to ceph_databuf ceph: Convert users of ceph_pagelist to ceph_databuf ceph: Remove ceph_pagelist ceph: Convert ceph_osdc_notify() reply to ceph_databuf ceph: Remove CEPH_OS_DATA_TYPE_PAGES and its attendant helpers ceph: Remove CEPH_MSG_DATA_PAGES and its helpers ceph: Don't use data_pages drivers/block/rbd.c | 645 ++++++++++---------------------- fs/ceph/acl.c | 39 +- fs/ceph/addr.c | 18 +- fs/ceph/file.c | 157 ++++---- fs/ceph/inode.c | 85 ++--- fs/ceph/locks.c | 23 +- fs/ceph/mds_client.c | 134 ++++--- fs/ceph/mds_client.h | 2 +- fs/ceph/super.h | 8 +- fs/ceph/xattr.c | 68 ++-- include/linux/ceph/databuf.h | 65 ++++ include/linux/ceph/messenger.h | 141 +------ include/linux/ceph/osd_client.h | 97 ++--- include/linux/ceph/pagelist.h | 72 ---- include/linux/uio.h | 1 + lib/iov_iter.c | 22 ++ net/ceph/Makefile | 5 +- net/ceph/cls_lock_client.c | 40 +- net/ceph/databuf.c | 149 ++++++++ net/ceph/messenger.c | 376 +------------------ net/ceph/osd_client.c | 430 +++++++-------------- net/ceph/pagelist.c | 171 --------- 22 files changed, 876 insertions(+), 1872 deletions(-) create mode 100644 include/linux/ceph/databuf.h delete mode 100644 include/linux/ceph/pagelist.h create mode 100644 net/ceph/databuf.c delete mode 100644 net/ceph/pagelist.c