On Fri, Mar 15, 2024 at 12:52:54PM -0400, Jeff Layton wrote: > @@ -4603,9 +4606,12 @@ int vfs_link(struct dentry *old_dentry, struct mnt_idmap *idmap, > else if (max_links && inode->i_nlink >= max_links) > error = -EMLINK; > else { > - error = try_break_deleg(inode, delegated_inode); > - if (!error) > - error = dir->i_op->link(old_dentry, dir, new_dentry); > + error = try_break_deleg(dir, delegated_inode); > + if (!error) { > + error = try_break_deleg(inode, delegated_inode); > + if (!error) > + error = dir->i_op->link(old_dentry, dir, new_dentry); > + } A minor nit: that might be easier to follow as error = try_break_deleg(dir, delegated_inode); if (!error) error = try_break_deleg(inode, delegated_inode); if (!error) error = dir->i_op->link(old_dentry, dir, new_dentry); and let the compiler deal with optimizing it - any C compiler is going to be able to figure out that one out. vfs_link() is a mix of those styles anyway - we have if (!error && (inode->i_state & I_LINKABLE)) { spin_lock(&inode->i_lock); inode->i_state &= ~I_LINKABLE; spin_unlock(&inode->i_lock); } immediately afterwards; might as well make that consistent, especially since you are getting more shallow nesting that way.