Writes via mmap currently update mtime and ctime in ->page_mkwrite. This is unfortunate from a performance and a correctness point of view. The file times should be updated after writes, not before (so that every write eventually results in a fresh timestamp). This is needed for POSIX compliance. More importantly (for me), ->page_mkwrite is called periodically even on mlocked pages, and some filesystems can sleep in mark_inode_dirty. This patchset attempts to fix both issues at once. It adds a new address_space flag AS_CMTIME that is set atomically whenever the system transfers a pte dirty bit to a struct page backed by the address_space. This can happen with various locks held and when low on memory. Later on, whenever syncing an inode (which happens indirectly in msync) or whenever a vma is torn down, if AS_CMTIME is set, then the file times are updated. This happens in a context from which (I think) it's safe to dirty inodes. One nice property of this approach is that it requires no fs-specific work. It's actually quite a bit simpler than I expected. I've tested this, and mtime and ctime are updated on munmap, exit, MS_SYNC, and fsync after writing via mmap. The times are also updated 30 seconds after writing, all by themselves :) xfstest #215 also passes.Lockdep has no complaints. Changes from v1: - inode_update_time_writable now locks against the fs freezer - Minor cleanups - Major changelog improvements Andy Lutomirski (3): mm: Explicitly track when the page dirty bit is transferred from a pte mm: Update file times when inodes are written after mmaped writes Remove file_update_time from all mkwrite paths fs/9p/vfs_file.c | 3 --- fs/btrfs/inode.c | 4 +-- fs/buffer.c | 6 ----- fs/ceph/addr.c | 3 --- fs/ext4/inode.c | 1 - fs/gfs2/file.c | 3 --- fs/inode.c | 72 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------- fs/nilfs2/file.c | 1 - fs/sysfs/bin.c | 2 -- include/linux/fs.h | 1 + include/linux/mm.h | 1 + include/linux/pagemap.h | 3 +++ mm/filemap.c | 1 - mm/memory-failure.c | 4 +-- mm/memory.c | 5 +--- mm/mmap.c | 4 +++ mm/page-writeback.c | 42 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++-- mm/rmap.c | 9 ++++--- 18 files changed, 115 insertions(+), 50 deletions(-) -- 1.7.11.7 -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-fsdevel" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html