Return-Path: linux-nfs-owner@vger.kernel.org Received: from fieldses.org ([174.143.236.118]:55931 "EHLO fieldses.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1755664Ab1JSRPv (ORCPT ); Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:15:51 -0400 Received: from bfields by fieldses.org with local (Exim 4.72) (envelope-from ) id 1RGZk7-0008Mn-3V for linux-nfs@vger.kernel.org; Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:15:51 -0400 Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:15:51 -0400 To: linux-nfs@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Does NFS4 need st_gen? Message-ID: <20111019171551.GA32028@fieldses.org> References: <87ipnlcbg8.fsf@inspiron.ap.columbia.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii In-Reply-To: <87ipnlcbg8.fsf@inspiron.ap.columbia.edu> From: "J. Bruce Fields" Sender: linux-nfs-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: On Wed, Oct 19, 2011 at 10:17:43AM -0400, Nikolaus Rath wrote: > Does NFS4 still depend on inode generation numbers? I understand that > earlier NFS versions used file handles based on inode and generation > number, but it seems to me that this shouldn't be required anymore with > the (stateful) NFS4. Yes, it's true that NFSv4 has open and close operations, but filehandles are still used a great deal outside of that, and clients are still allowed to assume that the same filehandle always refers to the same object. http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3530.txt, section 4.2.1: "If two filehandles from the same server are equal, they MUST refer to the same file." --b.