summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Documentation/filesystems/Locking
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorAndré Fabian Silva Delgado <emulatorman@parabola.nu>2015-08-05 17:04:01 -0300
committerAndré Fabian Silva Delgado <emulatorman@parabola.nu>2015-08-05 17:04:01 -0300
commit57f0f512b273f60d52568b8c6b77e17f5636edc0 (patch)
tree5e910f0e82173f4ef4f51111366a3f1299037a7b /Documentation/filesystems/Locking
Initial import
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/filesystems/Locking')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/filesystems/Locking578
1 files changed, 578 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/Locking b/Documentation/filesystems/Locking
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0a926e2ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/Locking
@@ -0,0 +1,578 @@
+ The text below describes the locking rules for VFS-related methods.
+It is (believed to be) up-to-date. *Please*, if you change anything in
+prototypes or locking protocols - update this file. And update the relevant
+instances in the tree, don't leave that to maintainers of filesystems/devices/
+etc. At the very least, put the list of dubious cases in the end of this file.
+Don't turn it into log - maintainers of out-of-the-tree code are supposed to
+be able to use diff(1).
+ Thing currently missing here: socket operations. Alexey?
+
+--------------------------- dentry_operations --------------------------
+prototypes:
+ int (*d_revalidate)(struct dentry *, unsigned int);
+ int (*d_weak_revalidate)(struct dentry *, unsigned int);
+ int (*d_hash)(const struct dentry *, struct qstr *);
+ int (*d_compare)(const struct dentry *, const struct dentry *,
+ unsigned int, const char *, const struct qstr *);
+ int (*d_delete)(struct dentry *);
+ void (*d_release)(struct dentry *);
+ void (*d_iput)(struct dentry *, struct inode *);
+ char *(*d_dname)((struct dentry *dentry, char *buffer, int buflen);
+ struct vfsmount *(*d_automount)(struct path *path);
+ int (*d_manage)(struct dentry *, bool);
+
+locking rules:
+ rename_lock ->d_lock may block rcu-walk
+d_revalidate: no no yes (ref-walk) maybe
+d_weak_revalidate:no no yes no
+d_hash no no no maybe
+d_compare: yes no no maybe
+d_delete: no yes no no
+d_release: no no yes no
+d_prune: no yes no no
+d_iput: no no yes no
+d_dname: no no no no
+d_automount: no no yes no
+d_manage: no no yes (ref-walk) maybe
+
+--------------------------- inode_operations ---------------------------
+prototypes:
+ int (*create) (struct inode *,struct dentry *,umode_t, bool);
+ struct dentry * (*lookup) (struct inode *,struct dentry *, unsigned int);
+ int (*link) (struct dentry *,struct inode *,struct dentry *);
+ int (*unlink) (struct inode *,struct dentry *);
+ int (*symlink) (struct inode *,struct dentry *,const char *);
+ int (*mkdir) (struct inode *,struct dentry *,umode_t);
+ int (*rmdir) (struct inode *,struct dentry *);
+ int (*mknod) (struct inode *,struct dentry *,umode_t,dev_t);
+ int (*rename) (struct inode *, struct dentry *,
+ struct inode *, struct dentry *);
+ int (*rename2) (struct inode *, struct dentry *,
+ struct inode *, struct dentry *, unsigned int);
+ int (*readlink) (struct dentry *, char __user *,int);
+ void * (*follow_link) (struct dentry *, struct nameidata *);
+ void (*put_link) (struct dentry *, struct nameidata *, void *);
+ void (*truncate) (struct inode *);
+ int (*permission) (struct inode *, int, unsigned int);
+ int (*get_acl)(struct inode *, int);
+ int (*setattr) (struct dentry *, struct iattr *);
+ int (*getattr) (struct vfsmount *, struct dentry *, struct kstat *);
+ int (*setxattr) (struct dentry *, const char *,const void *,size_t,int);
+ ssize_t (*getxattr) (struct dentry *, const char *, void *, size_t);
+ ssize_t (*listxattr) (struct dentry *, char *, size_t);
+ int (*removexattr) (struct dentry *, const char *);
+ int (*fiemap)(struct inode *, struct fiemap_extent_info *, u64 start, u64 len);
+ void (*update_time)(struct inode *, struct timespec *, int);
+ int (*atomic_open)(struct inode *, struct dentry *,
+ struct file *, unsigned open_flag,
+ umode_t create_mode, int *opened);
+ int (*tmpfile) (struct inode *, struct dentry *, umode_t);
+ int (*dentry_open)(struct dentry *, struct file *, const struct cred *);
+
+locking rules:
+ all may block
+ i_mutex(inode)
+lookup: yes
+create: yes
+link: yes (both)
+mknod: yes
+symlink: yes
+mkdir: yes
+unlink: yes (both)
+rmdir: yes (both) (see below)
+rename: yes (all) (see below)
+rename2: yes (all) (see below)
+readlink: no
+follow_link: no
+put_link: no
+setattr: yes
+permission: no (may not block if called in rcu-walk mode)
+get_acl: no
+getattr: no
+setxattr: yes
+getxattr: no
+listxattr: no
+removexattr: yes
+fiemap: no
+update_time: no
+atomic_open: yes
+tmpfile: no
+dentry_open: no
+
+ Additionally, ->rmdir(), ->unlink() and ->rename() have ->i_mutex on
+victim.
+ cross-directory ->rename() and rename2() has (per-superblock)
+->s_vfs_rename_sem.
+
+See Documentation/filesystems/directory-locking for more detailed discussion
+of the locking scheme for directory operations.
+
+--------------------------- super_operations ---------------------------
+prototypes:
+ struct inode *(*alloc_inode)(struct super_block *sb);
+ void (*destroy_inode)(struct inode *);
+ void (*dirty_inode) (struct inode *, int flags);
+ int (*write_inode) (struct inode *, struct writeback_control *wbc);
+ int (*drop_inode) (struct inode *);
+ void (*evict_inode) (struct inode *);
+ void (*put_super) (struct super_block *);
+ int (*sync_fs)(struct super_block *sb, int wait);
+ int (*freeze_fs) (struct super_block *);
+ int (*unfreeze_fs) (struct super_block *);
+ int (*statfs) (struct dentry *, struct kstatfs *);
+ int (*remount_fs) (struct super_block *, int *, char *);
+ void (*umount_begin) (struct super_block *);
+ int (*show_options)(struct seq_file *, struct dentry *);
+ ssize_t (*quota_read)(struct super_block *, int, char *, size_t, loff_t);
+ ssize_t (*quota_write)(struct super_block *, int, const char *, size_t, loff_t);
+ int (*bdev_try_to_free_page)(struct super_block*, struct page*, gfp_t);
+
+locking rules:
+ All may block [not true, see below]
+ s_umount
+alloc_inode:
+destroy_inode:
+dirty_inode:
+write_inode:
+drop_inode: !!!inode->i_lock!!!
+evict_inode:
+put_super: write
+sync_fs: read
+freeze_fs: write
+unfreeze_fs: write
+statfs: maybe(read) (see below)
+remount_fs: write
+umount_begin: no
+show_options: no (namespace_sem)
+quota_read: no (see below)
+quota_write: no (see below)
+bdev_try_to_free_page: no (see below)
+
+->statfs() has s_umount (shared) when called by ustat(2) (native or
+compat), but that's an accident of bad API; s_umount is used to pin
+the superblock down when we only have dev_t given us by userland to
+identify the superblock. Everything else (statfs(), fstatfs(), etc.)
+doesn't hold it when calling ->statfs() - superblock is pinned down
+by resolving the pathname passed to syscall.
+->quota_read() and ->quota_write() functions are both guaranteed to
+be the only ones operating on the quota file by the quota code (via
+dqio_sem) (unless an admin really wants to screw up something and
+writes to quota files with quotas on). For other details about locking
+see also dquot_operations section.
+->bdev_try_to_free_page is called from the ->releasepage handler of
+the block device inode. See there for more details.
+
+--------------------------- file_system_type ---------------------------
+prototypes:
+ struct dentry *(*mount) (struct file_system_type *, int,
+ const char *, void *);
+ void (*kill_sb) (struct super_block *);
+locking rules:
+ may block
+mount yes
+kill_sb yes
+
+->mount() returns ERR_PTR or the root dentry; its superblock should be locked
+on return.
+->kill_sb() takes a write-locked superblock, does all shutdown work on it,
+unlocks and drops the reference.
+
+--------------------------- address_space_operations --------------------------
+prototypes:
+ int (*writepage)(struct page *page, struct writeback_control *wbc);
+ int (*readpage)(struct file *, struct page *);
+ int (*sync_page)(struct page *);
+ int (*writepages)(struct address_space *, struct writeback_control *);
+ int (*set_page_dirty)(struct page *page);
+ int (*readpages)(struct file *filp, struct address_space *mapping,
+ struct list_head *pages, unsigned nr_pages);
+ int (*write_begin)(struct file *, struct address_space *mapping,
+ loff_t pos, unsigned len, unsigned flags,
+ struct page **pagep, void **fsdata);
+ int (*write_end)(struct file *, struct address_space *mapping,
+ loff_t pos, unsigned len, unsigned copied,
+ struct page *page, void *fsdata);
+ sector_t (*bmap)(struct address_space *, sector_t);
+ void (*invalidatepage) (struct page *, unsigned int, unsigned int);
+ int (*releasepage) (struct page *, int);
+ void (*freepage)(struct page *);
+ int (*direct_IO)(struct kiocb *, struct iov_iter *iter, loff_t offset);
+ int (*migratepage)(struct address_space *, struct page *, struct page *);
+ int (*launder_page)(struct page *);
+ int (*is_partially_uptodate)(struct page *, unsigned long, unsigned long);
+ int (*error_remove_page)(struct address_space *, struct page *);
+ int (*swap_activate)(struct file *);
+ int (*swap_deactivate)(struct file *);
+
+locking rules:
+ All except set_page_dirty and freepage may block
+
+ PageLocked(page) i_mutex
+writepage: yes, unlocks (see below)
+readpage: yes, unlocks
+sync_page: maybe
+writepages:
+set_page_dirty no
+readpages:
+write_begin: locks the page yes
+write_end: yes, unlocks yes
+bmap:
+invalidatepage: yes
+releasepage: yes
+freepage: yes
+direct_IO:
+migratepage: yes (both)
+launder_page: yes
+is_partially_uptodate: yes
+error_remove_page: yes
+swap_activate: no
+swap_deactivate: no
+
+ ->write_begin(), ->write_end(), ->sync_page() and ->readpage()
+may be called from the request handler (/dev/loop).
+
+ ->readpage() unlocks the page, either synchronously or via I/O
+completion.
+
+ ->readpages() populates the pagecache with the passed pages and starts
+I/O against them. They come unlocked upon I/O completion.
+
+ ->writepage() is used for two purposes: for "memory cleansing" and for
+"sync". These are quite different operations and the behaviour may differ
+depending upon the mode.
+
+If writepage is called for sync (wbc->sync_mode != WBC_SYNC_NONE) then
+it *must* start I/O against the page, even if that would involve
+blocking on in-progress I/O.
+
+If writepage is called for memory cleansing (sync_mode ==
+WBC_SYNC_NONE) then its role is to get as much writeout underway as
+possible. So writepage should try to avoid blocking against
+currently-in-progress I/O.
+
+If the filesystem is not called for "sync" and it determines that it
+would need to block against in-progress I/O to be able to start new I/O
+against the page the filesystem should redirty the page with
+redirty_page_for_writepage(), then unlock the page and return zero.
+This may also be done to avoid internal deadlocks, but rarely.
+
+If the filesystem is called for sync then it must wait on any
+in-progress I/O and then start new I/O.
+
+The filesystem should unlock the page synchronously, before returning to the
+caller, unless ->writepage() returns special WRITEPAGE_ACTIVATE
+value. WRITEPAGE_ACTIVATE means that page cannot really be written out
+currently, and VM should stop calling ->writepage() on this page for some
+time. VM does this by moving page to the head of the active list, hence the
+name.
+
+Unless the filesystem is going to redirty_page_for_writepage(), unlock the page
+and return zero, writepage *must* run set_page_writeback() against the page,
+followed by unlocking it. Once set_page_writeback() has been run against the
+page, write I/O can be submitted and the write I/O completion handler must run
+end_page_writeback() once the I/O is complete. If no I/O is submitted, the
+filesystem must run end_page_writeback() against the page before returning from
+writepage.
+
+That is: after 2.5.12, pages which are under writeout are *not* locked. Note,
+if the filesystem needs the page to be locked during writeout, that is ok, too,
+the page is allowed to be unlocked at any point in time between the calls to
+set_page_writeback() and end_page_writeback().
+
+Note, failure to run either redirty_page_for_writepage() or the combination of
+set_page_writeback()/end_page_writeback() on a page submitted to writepage
+will leave the page itself marked clean but it will be tagged as dirty in the
+radix tree. This incoherency can lead to all sorts of hard-to-debug problems
+in the filesystem like having dirty inodes at umount and losing written data.
+
+ ->sync_page() locking rules are not well-defined - usually it is called
+with lock on page, but that is not guaranteed. Considering the currently
+existing instances of this method ->sync_page() itself doesn't look
+well-defined...
+
+ ->writepages() is used for periodic writeback and for syscall-initiated
+sync operations. The address_space should start I/O against at least
+*nr_to_write pages. *nr_to_write must be decremented for each page which is
+written. The address_space implementation may write more (or less) pages
+than *nr_to_write asks for, but it should try to be reasonably close. If
+nr_to_write is NULL, all dirty pages must be written.
+
+writepages should _only_ write pages which are present on
+mapping->io_pages.
+
+ ->set_page_dirty() is called from various places in the kernel
+when the target page is marked as needing writeback. It may be called
+under spinlock (it cannot block) and is sometimes called with the page
+not locked.
+
+ ->bmap() is currently used by legacy ioctl() (FIBMAP) provided by some
+filesystems and by the swapper. The latter will eventually go away. Please,
+keep it that way and don't breed new callers.
+
+ ->invalidatepage() is called when the filesystem must attempt to drop
+some or all of the buffers from the page when it is being truncated. It
+returns zero on success. If ->invalidatepage is zero, the kernel uses
+block_invalidatepage() instead.
+
+ ->releasepage() is called when the kernel is about to try to drop the
+buffers from the page in preparation for freeing it. It returns zero to
+indicate that the buffers are (or may be) freeable. If ->releasepage is zero,
+the kernel assumes that the fs has no private interest in the buffers.
+
+ ->freepage() is called when the kernel is done dropping the page
+from the page cache.
+
+ ->launder_page() may be called prior to releasing a page if
+it is still found to be dirty. It returns zero if the page was successfully
+cleaned, or an error value if not. Note that in order to prevent the page
+getting mapped back in and redirtied, it needs to be kept locked
+across the entire operation.
+
+ ->swap_activate will be called with a non-zero argument on
+files backing (non block device backed) swapfiles. A return value
+of zero indicates success, in which case this file can be used for
+backing swapspace. The swapspace operations will be proxied to the
+address space operations.
+
+ ->swap_deactivate() will be called in the sys_swapoff()
+path after ->swap_activate() returned success.
+
+----------------------- file_lock_operations ------------------------------
+prototypes:
+ void (*fl_copy_lock)(struct file_lock *, struct file_lock *);
+ void (*fl_release_private)(struct file_lock *);
+
+
+locking rules:
+ inode->i_lock may block
+fl_copy_lock: yes no
+fl_release_private: maybe maybe[1]
+
+[1]: ->fl_release_private for flock or POSIX locks is currently allowed
+to block. Leases however can still be freed while the i_lock is held and
+so fl_release_private called on a lease should not block.
+
+----------------------- lock_manager_operations ---------------------------
+prototypes:
+ int (*lm_compare_owner)(struct file_lock *, struct file_lock *);
+ unsigned long (*lm_owner_key)(struct file_lock *);
+ void (*lm_notify)(struct file_lock *); /* unblock callback */
+ int (*lm_grant)(struct file_lock *, struct file_lock *, int);
+ void (*lm_break)(struct file_lock *); /* break_lease callback */
+ int (*lm_change)(struct file_lock **, int);
+
+locking rules:
+
+ inode->i_lock blocked_lock_lock may block
+lm_compare_owner: yes[1] maybe no
+lm_owner_key yes[1] yes no
+lm_notify: yes yes no
+lm_grant: no no no
+lm_break: yes no no
+lm_change yes no no
+
+[1]: ->lm_compare_owner and ->lm_owner_key are generally called with
+*an* inode->i_lock held. It may not be the i_lock of the inode
+associated with either file_lock argument! This is the case with deadlock
+detection, since the code has to chase down the owners of locks that may
+be entirely unrelated to the one on which the lock is being acquired.
+For deadlock detection however, the blocked_lock_lock is also held. The
+fact that these locks are held ensures that the file_locks do not
+disappear out from under you while doing the comparison or generating an
+owner key.
+
+--------------------------- buffer_head -----------------------------------
+prototypes:
+ void (*b_end_io)(struct buffer_head *bh, int uptodate);
+
+locking rules:
+ called from interrupts. In other words, extreme care is needed here.
+bh is locked, but that's all warranties we have here. Currently only RAID1,
+highmem, fs/buffer.c, and fs/ntfs/aops.c are providing these. Block devices
+call this method upon the IO completion.
+
+--------------------------- block_device_operations -----------------------
+prototypes:
+ int (*open) (struct block_device *, fmode_t);
+ int (*release) (struct gendisk *, fmode_t);
+ int (*ioctl) (struct block_device *, fmode_t, unsigned, unsigned long);
+ int (*compat_ioctl) (struct block_device *, fmode_t, unsigned, unsigned long);
+ int (*direct_access) (struct block_device *, sector_t, void **, unsigned long *);
+ int (*media_changed) (struct gendisk *);
+ void (*unlock_native_capacity) (struct gendisk *);
+ int (*revalidate_disk) (struct gendisk *);
+ int (*getgeo)(struct block_device *, struct hd_geometry *);
+ void (*swap_slot_free_notify) (struct block_device *, unsigned long);
+
+locking rules:
+ bd_mutex
+open: yes
+release: yes
+ioctl: no
+compat_ioctl: no
+direct_access: no
+media_changed: no
+unlock_native_capacity: no
+revalidate_disk: no
+getgeo: no
+swap_slot_free_notify: no (see below)
+
+media_changed, unlock_native_capacity and revalidate_disk are called only from
+check_disk_change().
+
+swap_slot_free_notify is called with swap_lock and sometimes the page lock
+held.
+
+
+--------------------------- file_operations -------------------------------
+prototypes:
+ loff_t (*llseek) (struct file *, loff_t, int);
+ ssize_t (*read) (struct file *, char __user *, size_t, loff_t *);
+ ssize_t (*write) (struct file *, const char __user *, size_t, loff_t *);
+ ssize_t (*read_iter) (struct kiocb *, struct iov_iter *);
+ ssize_t (*write_iter) (struct kiocb *, struct iov_iter *);
+ int (*iterate) (struct file *, struct dir_context *);
+ unsigned int (*poll) (struct file *, struct poll_table_struct *);
+ long (*unlocked_ioctl) (struct file *, unsigned int, unsigned long);
+ long (*compat_ioctl) (struct file *, unsigned int, unsigned long);
+ int (*mmap) (struct file *, struct vm_area_struct *);
+ int (*open) (struct inode *, struct file *);
+ int (*flush) (struct file *);
+ int (*release) (struct inode *, struct file *);
+ int (*fsync) (struct file *, loff_t start, loff_t end, int datasync);
+ int (*aio_fsync) (struct kiocb *, int datasync);
+ int (*fasync) (int, struct file *, int);
+ int (*lock) (struct file *, int, struct file_lock *);
+ ssize_t (*readv) (struct file *, const struct iovec *, unsigned long,
+ loff_t *);
+ ssize_t (*writev) (struct file *, const struct iovec *, unsigned long,
+ loff_t *);
+ ssize_t (*sendfile) (struct file *, loff_t *, size_t, read_actor_t,
+ void __user *);
+ ssize_t (*sendpage) (struct file *, struct page *, int, size_t,
+ loff_t *, int);
+ unsigned long (*get_unmapped_area)(struct file *, unsigned long,
+ unsigned long, unsigned long, unsigned long);
+ int (*check_flags)(int);
+ int (*flock) (struct file *, int, struct file_lock *);
+ ssize_t (*splice_write)(struct pipe_inode_info *, struct file *, loff_t *,
+ size_t, unsigned int);
+ ssize_t (*splice_read)(struct file *, loff_t *, struct pipe_inode_info *,
+ size_t, unsigned int);
+ int (*setlease)(struct file *, long, struct file_lock **, void **);
+ long (*fallocate)(struct file *, int, loff_t, loff_t);
+};
+
+locking rules:
+ All may block.
+
+->llseek() locking has moved from llseek to the individual llseek
+implementations. If your fs is not using generic_file_llseek, you
+need to acquire and release the appropriate locks in your ->llseek().
+For many filesystems, it is probably safe to acquire the inode
+mutex or just to use i_size_read() instead.
+Note: this does not protect the file->f_pos against concurrent modifications
+since this is something the userspace has to take care about.
+
+->fasync() is responsible for maintaining the FASYNC bit in filp->f_flags.
+Most instances call fasync_helper(), which does that maintenance, so it's
+not normally something one needs to worry about. Return values > 0 will be
+mapped to zero in the VFS layer.
+
+->readdir() and ->ioctl() on directories must be changed. Ideally we would
+move ->readdir() to inode_operations and use a separate method for directory
+->ioctl() or kill the latter completely. One of the problems is that for
+anything that resembles union-mount we won't have a struct file for all
+components. And there are other reasons why the current interface is a mess...
+
+->read on directories probably must go away - we should just enforce -EISDIR
+in sys_read() and friends.
+
+->setlease operations should call generic_setlease() before or after setting
+the lease within the individual filesystem to record the result of the
+operation
+
+--------------------------- dquot_operations -------------------------------
+prototypes:
+ int (*write_dquot) (struct dquot *);
+ int (*acquire_dquot) (struct dquot *);
+ int (*release_dquot) (struct dquot *);
+ int (*mark_dirty) (struct dquot *);
+ int (*write_info) (struct super_block *, int);
+
+These operations are intended to be more or less wrapping functions that ensure
+a proper locking wrt the filesystem and call the generic quota operations.
+
+What filesystem should expect from the generic quota functions:
+
+ FS recursion Held locks when called
+write_dquot: yes dqonoff_sem or dqptr_sem
+acquire_dquot: yes dqonoff_sem or dqptr_sem
+release_dquot: yes dqonoff_sem or dqptr_sem
+mark_dirty: no -
+write_info: yes dqonoff_sem
+
+FS recursion means calling ->quota_read() and ->quota_write() from superblock
+operations.
+
+More details about quota locking can be found in fs/dquot.c.
+
+--------------------------- vm_operations_struct -----------------------------
+prototypes:
+ void (*open)(struct vm_area_struct*);
+ void (*close)(struct vm_area_struct*);
+ int (*fault)(struct vm_area_struct*, struct vm_fault *);
+ int (*page_mkwrite)(struct vm_area_struct *, struct vm_fault *);
+ int (*pfn_mkwrite)(struct vm_area_struct *, struct vm_fault *);
+ int (*access)(struct vm_area_struct *, unsigned long, void*, int, int);
+
+locking rules:
+ mmap_sem PageLocked(page)
+open: yes
+close: yes
+fault: yes can return with page locked
+map_pages: yes
+page_mkwrite: yes can return with page locked
+pfn_mkwrite: yes
+access: yes
+
+ ->fault() is called when a previously not present pte is about
+to be faulted in. The filesystem must find and return the page associated
+with the passed in "pgoff" in the vm_fault structure. If it is possible that
+the page may be truncated and/or invalidated, then the filesystem must lock
+the page, then ensure it is not already truncated (the page lock will block
+subsequent truncate), and then return with VM_FAULT_LOCKED, and the page
+locked. The VM will unlock the page.
+
+ ->map_pages() is called when VM asks to map easy accessible pages.
+Filesystem should find and map pages associated with offsets from "pgoff"
+till "max_pgoff". ->map_pages() is called with page table locked and must
+not block. If it's not possible to reach a page without blocking,
+filesystem should skip it. Filesystem should use do_set_pte() to setup
+page table entry. Pointer to entry associated with offset "pgoff" is
+passed in "pte" field in vm_fault structure. Pointers to entries for other
+offsets should be calculated relative to "pte".
+
+ ->page_mkwrite() is called when a previously read-only pte is
+about to become writeable. The filesystem again must ensure that there are
+no truncate/invalidate races, and then return with the page locked. If
+the page has been truncated, the filesystem should not look up a new page
+like the ->fault() handler, but simply return with VM_FAULT_NOPAGE, which
+will cause the VM to retry the fault.
+
+ ->pfn_mkwrite() is the same as page_mkwrite but when the pte is
+VM_PFNMAP or VM_MIXEDMAP with a page-less entry. Expected return is
+VM_FAULT_NOPAGE. Or one of the VM_FAULT_ERROR types. The default behavior
+after this call is to make the pte read-write, unless pfn_mkwrite returns
+an error.
+
+ ->access() is called when get_user_pages() fails in
+access_process_vm(), typically used to debug a process through
+/proc/pid/mem or ptrace. This function is needed only for
+VM_IO | VM_PFNMAP VMAs.
+
+================================================================================
+ Dubious stuff
+
+(if you break something or notice that it is broken and do not fix it yourself
+- at least put it here)