xref: /freebsd/share/man/man9/vnode.9 (revision 74c6d869210c88fbf79ca618eccc48351f83e6f6)
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3.\" Copyright (c) 1996 Doug Rabson
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29.\" $Id: vnode.9,v 1.6 1998/03/12 07:31:20 charnier Exp $
30.\"
31.Dd July 24, 1996
32.Os
33.Dt VNODE 9
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm vnode
36.Nd internal representation of a file or directory
37.Sh SYNOPSIS
38.Fd #include <sys/param.h>
39.Fd #include <sys/vnode.h>
40.Pp
41.Bd -literal
42/*
43 * Vnode types.  VNON means no type.
44 */
45enum vtype	{ VNON, VREG, VDIR, VBLK, VCHR, VLNK, VSOCK, VFIFO, VBAD };
46
47/*
48 * Vnode tag types.
49 * These are for the benefit of external programs only (e.g., pstat)
50 * and should NEVER be inspected by the kernel.
51 */
52enum vtagtype	{
53	VT_NON, VT_UFS, VT_NFS, VT_MFS, VT_PC, VT_LFS, VT_LOFS, VT_FDESC,
54	VT_PORTAL, VT_NULL, VT_UMAP, VT_KERNFS, VT_PROCFS, VT_AFS, VT_ISOFS,
55	VT_UNION, VT_MSDOSFS, VT_DEVFS
56};
57
58/*
59 * Each underlying filesystem allocates its own private area and hangs
60 * it from v_data.  If non-null, this area is freed in getnewvnode().
61 */
62LIST_HEAD(buflists, buf);
63
64typedef	int 	vop_t __P((void *));
65
66struct vnode {
67	u_long	v_flag;			/* vnode flags (see below) */
68	int	v_usecount;		/* reference count of users */
69	int	v_writecount;		/* reference count of writers */
70	int	v_holdcnt;		/* page & buffer references */
71	daddr_t	v_lastr;		/* last read (read-ahead) */
72	u_long	v_id;			/* capability identifier */
73	struct	mount *v_mount;		/* ptr to vfs we are in */
74	vop_t	**v_op;			/* vnode operations vector */
75	TAILQ_ENTRY(vnode) v_freelist;	/* vnode freelist */
76	LIST_ENTRY(vnode) v_mntvnodes;	/* vnodes for mount point */
77	struct	buflists v_cleanblkhd;	/* clean blocklist head */
78	struct	buflists v_dirtyblkhd;	/* dirty blocklist head */
79	long	v_numoutput;		/* num of writes in progress */
80	enum	vtype v_type;		/* vnode type */
81	union {
82		struct mount	*vu_mountedhere;/* ptr to mounted vfs (VDIR) */
83		struct socket	*vu_socket;	/* unix ipc (VSOCK) */
84		struct specinfo	*vu_specinfo;	/* device (VCHR, VBLK) */
85		struct fifoinfo	*vu_fifoinfo;	/* fifo (VFIFO) */
86	} v_un;
87	struct	nqlease *v_lease;	/* Soft reference to lease */
88	daddr_t	v_lastw;		/* last write (write cluster) */
89	daddr_t	v_cstart;		/* start block of cluster */
90	daddr_t	v_lasta;		/* last allocation */
91	int	v_clen;			/* length of current cluster */
92	int	v_ralen;		/* Read-ahead length */
93	int	v_usage;		/* Vnode usage counter */
94	daddr_t	v_maxra;		/* last readahead block */
95	void	*v_object;		/* Place to store VM object */
96	enum	vtagtype v_tag;		/* type of underlying data */
97	void 	*v_data;		/* private data for fs */
98};
99#define	v_mountedhere	v_un.vu_mountedhere
100#define	v_socket	v_un.vu_socket
101#define	v_specinfo	v_un.vu_specinfo
102#define	v_fifoinfo	v_un.vu_fifoinfo
103
104/*
105 * Vnode flags.
106 */
107#define	VROOT	0x00001	/* root of its file system */
108#define	VTEXT	0x00002	/* vnode is a pure text prototype */
109#define	VSYSTEM	0x00004	/* vnode being used by kernel */
110#define	VOLOCK	0x00008	/* vnode is locked waiting for an object */
111#define	VOWANT	0x00010	/* a process is waiting for VOLOCK */
112#define	VXLOCK	0x00100	/* vnode is locked to change underlying type */
113#define	VXWANT	0x00200	/* process is waiting for vnode */
114#define	VBWAIT	0x00400	/* waiting for output to complete */
115#define	VALIASED	0x00800	/* vnode has an alias */
116#define	VDIROP	0x01000	/* LFS: vnode is involved in a directory op */
117#define	VVMIO	0x02000	/* VMIO flag */
118#define	VNINACT	0x04000	/* LFS: skip ufs_inactive() in lfs_vunref */
119#define	VAGE	0x08000	/* Insert vnode at head of free list */
120#define VOLOCK	0x10000	/* vnode is locked waiting for an object */
121#define VOWANT	0x20000	/* a process is waiting for VOLOCK */
122#define VDOOMED	0x40000	/* This vnode is being recycled */
123#define VFREE	0x80000	/* This vnode is on the freelist */
124
125
126.Ed
127.Sh DESCRIPTION
128The vnode is the focus of all file activity in UNIX.  There is a
129unique vnode allocated for each active file, each current directory,
130each mounted-on file, text file, and the root.
131.Pp
132Each vnode has three reference counts,
133.Dv v_usecount ,
134.Dv v_holdcnt
135and
136.Dv v_writecount .
137The first is the number of clients within the kernel which are
138using this vnode.  This count is maintained by
139.Xr vref 9 ,
140.Xr vrele 9
141and
142.Xr vput 9 .
143The second is the number of clients within the kernel who veto
144the recycling of this vnode.  This count is
145maintained by
146.Xr vhold 9
147and
148.Xr vdrop 9 .
149When both the
150.Dv v_usecount
151and the
152.Dv v_holdcnt
153of a vnode reaches zero then the vnode will be put on the freelist
154and may be reused for another file, possibly in another filesystem.
155The transition to and from the freelist is handled by
156.Xr getnewvnode 9 ,
157.Xr vfree 9
158and
159.Xr vbusy 9 .
160The third is a count of the number of clients which are writing into
161the file.  It is maintained by the
162.Xr open 2
163and
164.Xr close 2
165system calls.
166.Pp
167Any call which returns a vnode (e.g.
168.Xr VFS_GET 9 ,
169.Xr VOP_LOOKUP 9
170etc.)
171will increase the
172.Dv v_usecount
173of the vnode by one.  When the caller is finished with the vnode, it
174should release this reference by calling
175.Xr vrele 9
176(or
177.Xr vput 9
178if the vnode is locked).
179.Pp
180Other commonly used members of the vnode structure are
181.Dv v_id
182which is used to maintain consistency in the name cache,
183.Dv v_mount
184which points at the filesystem which owns the vnode,
185.Dv v_type
186which contains the type of object the vnode represents and
187.Dv v_data
188which is used by filesystems to store filesystem specific data with
189the vnode.
190The
191.Dv v_op
192field is used by the
193.Dv VOP_*
194macros to call functions in the filesystem which implement the vnode's
195functionality.
196.Sh VNODE TYPES
197.Bl -tag -width VSOCK
198.It Dv VNON
199No type.
200.It Dv VREG
201A regular file; may be with or without VM object backing.  If you want
202to make sure this get a backing object, call
203.Xr vfs_object_create 9 .
204.It Dv VDIR
205A directory.
206.It Dv VBLK
207A block device; may be with or without VM object backing.  If you want
208to make sure this get a backing object, call
209.Xr vfs_object_create 9 .
210.It Dv VCHR
211A character device.
212.It Dv VLNK
213A symbolic link.
214.It Dv VSOCK
215A socket.  Advisory locking won't work on this.
216.It Dv VFIFO
217A FIFO (named pipe).  Adviseroty locking won't work on this.
218.It Dv VBAD
219An old style bad sector map
220.El
221
222.Sh NOTES
223VFIFO uses the "struct fileops" from
224.Pa /sys/kern/sys_pipe.c .
225VSOCK uses the "struct fileops" from
226.Pa /sys/kern/sys_socket.c .
227Everything else uses the one from
228.Pa /sys/kern/vfs_vnops.c .
229
230The VFIFO/VSOCK code, which is why "struct fileops" is used at all, is
231an artifact of an incomplete integration of the VFS code into the
232kernel.
233.Sh SEE ALSO
234.Xr VFS 9
235.Sh AUTHORS
236This man page was written by
237.An Doug Rabson .
238