Re: [PATCH 30/38] vfs: syscall: Add fsmount() to create a mount for a superblock [ver #10]

Andy Lutomirski [off-list ref] wrote:

I have a potentially silly objection. For the old timers, "mount" means to
stick a reel of tape or some similar object onto a reader, which seems to
imply that "mount" means to start up the filesystem. For younguns, this
meaning is probably lost, and the more obvious meaning is to "mount" it into
some location in the VFS hierarchy a la vfsmount. The patch description
doesn't disambiguate it, and obviously people used to mount(2)/mount(8) are
just likely to be confused.

The problem is that inside the kernel it *is* a "mount".

How about I change the first paragraph to:

	Provide a system call by which a filesystem opened with fsopen() and
	configured by a series of fsconfig() calls can have a detached mount
	object created for it.  This mount object can then be attached to the
	VFS mount hierarchy using move_mount() by passing the returned file
	descriptor as the from directory fd.

At the very least, your description should make it absolutely clear what you
mean. Even better IMO would be to drop the use of the word "mount" entirely

I'm not sure that's a reasonable idea, given the "mounting" is how this is
done.

Can you suggest a word that encapsulates what it is that fsmount() returns?
It's almost, but not quite identical with what open(O_PATH) returns, since it
has to be torn down if not actually mounted somewhere when the fd is closed.

and maybe rename the syscall.

From a very brief reading, I think you are giving it the meaning that would
be implied by fsstart(2).

Do you have a reference for the manpage for that?  Google doesn't seem to find
it.

David