VFSOPS(9) | NetBSD Kernel Developer's Manual | VFSOPS(9)

# NAME

vfsops, VFS_MOUNT, VFS_START, VFS_UNMOUNT, VFS_ROOT, VFS_QUOTACTL, VFS_STATVFS, VFS_SYNC, VFS_VGET, VFS_FHTOVP, VFS_VPTOFH, VFS_SNAPSHOT, VFS_SUSPENDCTL — kernel file system interface

# SYNOPSIS

#include <sys/param.h>
#include <sys/mount.h>
#include <sys/vnode.h>

int
VFS_MOUNT(struct mount *mp, const char *path, void *data, size_t *dlen);

int
VFS_START(struct mount *mp, int flags);

int
VFS_UNMOUNT(struct mount *mp, int mntflags);

int
VFS_ROOT(struct mount *mp, struct vnode **vpp);

int
VFS_QUOTACTL(struct mount *mp, int cmds, uid_t uid, void *arg);

int
VFS_STATVFS(struct mount *mp, struct statvfs *sbp);

int
VFS_SYNC(struct mount *mp, int waitfor, kauth_cred_t cred);

int
VFS_VGET(struct mount *mp, ino_t ino, struct vnode **vpp);

int
VFS_FHTOVP(struct mount *mp, struct fid *fhp, struct vnode **vpp);

int
VFS_VPTOFH(struct vnode *vp, struct fid *fhp, size_t *fh_size);

int
VFS_SNAPSHOT(struct mount *mp, struct vnode *vp, struct timespec *ts);

int
VFS_SUSPENDCTL(struct mount *mp, int cmd);

# DESCRIPTION

In a similar fashion to the vnode(9) interface, all operations that are done on a file system are conducted through a single interface that allows the system to carry out operations on a file system without knowing its construction or type.

All supported file systems in the kernel have an entry in the vfs_list_initial table. This table is generated by config(1) and is a NULL-terminated list of vfsops structures. The vfsops structure describes the operations that can be done to a specific file system type. The following table lists the elements of the vfsops vector, the corresponding invocation macro, and a description of the element.

Vector element | Macro | Description
int (*vfs_mount)() | VFS_MOUNT | Mount a file system
int (*vfs_start)() | VFS_START | Make operational
int (*vfs_unmount)() | VFS_UNMOUNT | Unmount a file system
int (*vfs_root)() | VFS_ROOT | Get the file system root vnode
int (*vfs_quotactl)() | VFS_QUOTACTL | Query/modify space quotas
int (*vfs_statvfs)() | VFS_STATVFS | Get file system statistics
int (*vfs_sync)() | VFS_SYNC | Flush file system buffers
int (*vfs_vget)() | VFS_VGET | Get vnode from file id
int (*vfs_fhtovp)() | VFS_FHTOVP | NFS file handle to vnode lookup
int (*vfs_vptofh)() | VFS_VPTOFH | Vnode to NFS file handle lookup
void (*vfs_init)() | - | Initialize file system
void (*vfs_reinit)() | - | Reinitialize file system
void (*vfs_done)() | - | Cleanup unmounted file system
int (*vfs_mountroot)() | - | Mount the root file system
int (*vfs_snapshot)() | VFS_SNAPSHOT | Take a snapshot
int (*vfs_suspendctl)() | VFS_SUSPENDCTL | Suspend or resume

Some additional non-function members of the vfsops structure are the file system name vfs_name and a reference count vfs_refcount. It is not mandatory for a file system type to support a particular operation, but it must assign each member function pointer to a suitable function to do the minimum required of it. In most cases, such functions either do nothing or return an error value to the effect that it is not supported. vfs_reinit, vfs_mountroot, vfs_fhtovp, and vfs_vptofh may be NULL.

At system boot, each file system with an entry in vfs_list_initial is established and initialized. Each initialized file system is recorded by the kernel in the list vfs_list and the file system specific initialization function vfs_init in its vfsops vector is invoked. When the file system is no longer needed vfs_done is invoked to run file system specific cleanups and the file system is removed from the kernel list.

At system boot, the root file system is mounted by invoking the file system type specific vfs_mountroot function in the vfsops vector. All file systems that can be mounted as a root file system must define this function. It is responsible for initializing to list of mount structures for all future mounted file systems.

Kernel state which affects a specific file system type can be queried and modified using the sysctl(8) interface.

# FUNCTIONS

VFS_MOUNT(mp, path, data, dlen)
  Mount a file system specified by the mount structure mp on the mount point described by path. The argument data contains file system type specific data, while the argument dlen points to a location specifying the length of the data.

  VFS_MOUNT() initializes the mount structure for the mounted file system. This structure records mount-specific information for the file system and records the list of vnodes associated with the file system. This function is invoked both to mount new file systems and to change the attributes of an existing file system. If the flag MNT_UPDATE is set in mp->mnt_flag, the file system should update its state. This can be used, for instance, to convert a read-only file system to read-write. The current attributes for a mounted file system can be fetched by specifying MNT_GETARGS. If neither MNT_UPDATE or MNT_GETARGS are specified, a new file system will attempted to be mounted.

VFS_START(mp, flags)
  Make the file system specified by the mount structure mp operational. The argument flags is a set of flags for controlling the operation of VFS_START(). This function is invoked after VFS_MOUNT() and before the first access to the file system.
VFS_UNMOUNT(mp, mntflags)
  Unmount a file system specified by the mount structure mp. VFS_UNMOUNT() performs any file system type specific operations required before the file system is unmounted, such are flushing buffers. If MNT_FORCE is specified in the flags mntflags then open files are forcibly closed. The function also deallocates space associated with data structure that were allocated for the file system when it was mounted.
VFS_ROOT(mp, vpp)
  Get the root vnode of the file system specified by the mount structure mp. The vnode is returned in the address given by vpp. This function is used by the pathname translation algorithms when a vnode that has been covered by a mounted file system is encountered. While resolving the pathname, the pathname translation algorithm will have to go through the directory tree in the file system associated with that mount point and therefore requires the root vnode of the file system.
VFS_QUOTACTL(mp, cmds, uid, arg)
  Query/modify user space quotas for the file system specified by the mount structure mp. The argument specifies the control command to perform. The userid is specified in id and arg allows command-specific data to be returned to the system call interface. VFS_QUOTACTL() is the file system type specific implementation of the quotactl(2) system call.
VFS_STATVFS(mp, sbp)
  Get file system statistics for the file system specified by the mount structure mp. A statvfs structure filled with the statistics is returned in sbp. VFS_STATVFS() is the file system type specific implementation of the statvfs(2) and fstatvfs(2) system calls.
VFS_SYNC(mp, waitfor, cred)
  Flush file system I/O buffers for the file system specified by the mount structure mp. The waitfor argument indicates whether a partial flush or complete flush should be performed. The argument cred specifies the calling credentials. VFS_SYNC() does not provide any return value since the operation can never fail.
VFS_VGET(mp, ino, vpp)
  Get vnode for a file system type specific file id ino for the file system specified by the mount structure mp. The vnode is returned in the address specified vpp. The function is optional for file systems which have a unique id number for every file in the file system. It is used internally by the UFS file system and also by the NFSv3 server to implement the READDIRPLUS NFS call. If the file system does not support this function, it should return EOPNOTSUPP.
VFS_FHTOVP(mp, fhp, vpp)
  Get the vnode for the file handle fhp in the file system specified by the mount structure mp. The locked vnode is returned in vpp.

  When exporting, the call to VFS_FHTOVP() should follow a call to netexport_check(), which checks if the file is accessible to the client.

  If file handles are not supported by the file system, this function must return EOPNOTSUPP.

VFS_VPTOFH(vp, fhp, fh_size)
  Get a file handle for the vnode specified by vp. The file handle is returned in fhp. The contents of the file handle are defined by the file system and are not examined by any other subsystems. It should contain enough information to uniquely identify a file within the file system as well as noticing when a file has been removed and the file system resources have been recycled for a new file.

  The parameter fh_size points to the container size for the file handle. This parameter should be updated to the size of the finished file handle. Note that it is legal to call this function with fhp set to NULL in case fh_size is zero. In case fh_size indicates a storage space too small, the storage space required for the file handle corresponding to vp should be filled in and E2BIG should be returned.

  If file handles are not supported by the file system, this function must return EOPNOTSUPP.

VFS_SNAPSHOT(mp, vp, ts)
  Take a snapshot of the file system specified by the mount structure mp and make it accessible through the locked vnode vp. If ts is not NULL it will receive the time this snapshot was taken. If the file system does not support this function, it should return EOPNOTSUPP.
VFS_SUSPENDCTL(mp, cmd)
  Suspend or resume all operations on this file system. cmd is either SUSPEND_SUSPEND to suspend or SUSPEND_RESUME to resume operations. If the file system does not support this function, it should return EOPNOTSUPP.

# CODE REFERENCES

The vfs operations are implemented within the files sys/kern/vfs_subr.c and sys/kern/vfs_init.c.

# SEE ALSO

intro(9), namei(9), vfs(9), vfssubr(9), vnode(9), vnodeops(9)

# HISTORY

The vfs operations vector, its functions and the corresponding macros appeared in 4.3BSD.

April 22, 2009 | NetBSD 5.99