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Subject: [PATCH] NFSD: Flesh out a documenting comment for filecache.c
From:   Chuck Lever <chuck.lever@oracle.com>
To:     linux-nfs@vger.kernel.org
Date:   Tue, 01 Nov 2022 13:30:46 -0400
Message-ID: <166732362009.147807.16481897041798638515.stgit@klimt.1015granger.net>
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Record what we've learned recently about the NFSD filecache in a
documenting comment so our future selves don't forget what all this
is for.

Signed-off-by: Chuck Lever <chuck.lever@oracle.com>
---
 fs/nfsd/filecache.c |   24 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 24 insertions(+)

Here's what I had in mind for the top-of-file comment.


diff --git a/fs/nfsd/filecache.c b/fs/nfsd/filecache.c
index 28f91c97e045..02b4871b9ffc 100644
--- a/fs/nfsd/filecache.c
+++ b/fs/nfsd/filecache.c
@@ -2,6 +2,30 @@
  * Open file cache.
  *
  * (c) 2015 - Jeff Layton <jeff.layton@primarydata.com>
+ *
+ * An nfsd_file object is a per-file collection of open state that binds
+ * together:
+ *   - a struct file *
+ *   - a user credential
+ *   - a network namespace
+ *   - a read-ahead context
+ *   - monitoring for writeback errors
+ *
+ * nfsd_file objects are reference-counted. Consumers acquire a new
+ * object via the nfsd_file_acquire API. They manage their interest in
+ * the acquired object, and hence the object's reference count, via
+ * nfsd_file_get and nfsd_file_put. There are two varieties of nfsd_file
+ * object:
+ *
+ *  * non-garbage-collected: When a consumer wants to precisely control
+ *    the lifetime of a file's open state, it acquires a non-garbage-
+ *    collected nfsd_file. The final nfsd_file_put releases the open
+ *    state immediately.
+ *
+ *  * garbage-collected: When a consumer does not control the lifetime
+ *    of open state, it acquires a garbage-collected nfsd_file. The
+ *    final nfsd_file_put allows the open state to linger for a period
+ *    during which it may be re-used.
  */
 
 #include <linux/hash.h>