Re: [PATCH] fs: Prevent non-symlinks from entering pick link

[Edward Adam Davis]

On Wed, 18 Jun 2025 06:27:47 +0100, Al Viro wrote:
> Note that anything that calls __d_add(dentry, inode) with is_bad_inode(inode)
> (or d_add(), or d_instantiate(), or d_splice_alias() under the same conditions)
> is also FUBAR.
> 
> So's anything that calls make_bad_inode() on a struct inode that might be
> in process of being passed to one of those functions by another thread.
> 
> This is fundamentally wrong; bad inodes are not supposed to end up attached
> to dentries.
As far as I know, pick_link() is used to resolve the target path of a
symbolic link (symlink). Can you explain why pick_link() is executed on
a directory or a regular file?