Re: [PATCH] fs/drop_caches: move drop_caches sysctls into its own file

[Christian Brauner]

On Tue, Mar 21, 2023 at 09:39:41AM -0700, Luis Chamberlain wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 21, 2023 at 03:28:36PM +0100, Christian Brauner wrote:
> > On Tue, Mar 21, 2023 at 09:09:07PM +0800, Yangtao Li wrote:
> > > This moves the fs/drop_caches.c respective sysctls to its own file.
> > > 
> > > Signed-off-by: Yangtao Li <frank.li@xxxxxxxx>
> > > ---
> > >  fs/drop_caches.c   | 25 ++++++++++++++++++++++---
> > >  include/linux/mm.h |  6 ------
> > >  kernel/sysctl.c    |  9 ---------
> > >  3 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 18 deletions(-)
> > > 
> > > diff --git a/fs/drop_caches.c b/fs/drop_caches.c
> > > index e619c31b6bd9..3032b83ce6f2 100644
> > > --- a/fs/drop_caches.c
> > > +++ b/fs/drop_caches.c
> > > @@ -12,8 +12,7 @@
> > >  #include <linux/gfp.h>
> > >  #include "internal.h"
> > >  
> > > -/* A global variable is a bit ugly, but it keeps the code simple */
> > > -int sysctl_drop_caches;
> > > +static int sysctl_drop_caches;
> > >  
> > >  static void drop_pagecache_sb(struct super_block *sb, void *unused)
> > >  {
> > > @@ -47,7 +46,7 @@ static void drop_pagecache_sb(struct super_block *sb, void *unused)
> > >  	iput(toput_inode);
> > >  }
> > >  
> > > -int drop_caches_sysctl_handler(struct ctl_table *table, int write,
> > > +static int drop_caches_sysctl_handler(struct ctl_table *table, int write,
> > >  		void *buffer, size_t *length, loff_t *ppos)
> > >  {
> > >  	int ret;
> > > @@ -75,3 +74,23 @@ int drop_caches_sysctl_handler(struct ctl_table *table, int write,
> > >  	}
> > >  	return 0;
> > >  }
> > > +
> > > +static struct ctl_table drop_caches_table[] = {
> > > +	{
> > > +		.procname	= "drop_caches",
> > > +		.data		= &sysctl_drop_caches,
> > > +		.maxlen		= sizeof(int),
> > > +		.mode		= 0200,
> > > +		.proc_handler	= drop_caches_sysctl_handler,
> > > +		.extra1		= SYSCTL_ONE,
> > > +		.extra2		= SYSCTL_FOUR,
> > > +	},
> > > +	{}
> > > +};
> > > +
> > > +static int __init drop_cache_init(void)
> > > +{
> > > +	register_sysctl_init("vm", drop_caches_table);
> > 
> > Does this belong under mm/ or fs/?
> 
> To not break old userspace it must be kept under "vm" because the
> patch author is moving it from the kernel/sysctl.c table which used
> the "vm" table.
> 
> Moving it to "fs" would be a highly functional change which should
> require review from maintainers it would not break existing userspace
> expecations.

No, I was asking whether this belongs under the fs/ or mm/ directory.
But I misread the patch. I thought at first, that the patch moved the
file from the mm/ to the fs/ directory. But that's obviously not the
case... So ignore me.