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2011-02-21Docbook: add fs/eventfd.c and fix typos in itRandy Dunlap
Add fs/eventfd.c to filesystems docbook. Make typo corrections in fs/eventfd.c. Signed-off-by: Randy Dunlap <randy.dunlap@oracle.com> Cc: Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2010-10-15llseek: automatically add .llseek fopArnd Bergmann
All file_operations should get a .llseek operation so we can make nonseekable_open the default for future file operations without a .llseek pointer. The three cases that we can automatically detect are no_llseek, seq_lseek and default_llseek. For cases where we can we can automatically prove that the file offset is always ignored, we use noop_llseek, which maintains the current behavior of not returning an error from a seek. New drivers should normally not use noop_llseek but instead use no_llseek and call nonseekable_open at open time. Existing drivers can be converted to do the same when the maintainer knows for certain that no user code relies on calling seek on the device file. The generated code is often incorrectly indented and right now contains comments that clarify for each added line why a specific variant was chosen. In the version that gets submitted upstream, the comments will be gone and I will manually fix the indentation, because there does not seem to be a way to do that using coccinelle. Some amount of new code is currently sitting in linux-next that should get the same modifications, which I will do at the end of the merge window. Many thanks to Julia Lawall for helping me learn to write a semantic patch that does all this. ===== begin semantic patch ===== // This adds an llseek= method to all file operations, // as a preparation for making no_llseek the default. // // The rules are // - use no_llseek explicitly if we do nonseekable_open // - use seq_lseek for sequential files // - use default_llseek if we know we access f_pos // - use noop_llseek if we know we don't access f_pos, // but we still want to allow users to call lseek // @ open1 exists @ identifier nested_open; @@ nested_open(...) { <+... nonseekable_open(...) ...+> } @ open exists@ identifier open_f; identifier i, f; identifier open1.nested_open; @@ int open_f(struct inode *i, struct file *f) { <+... ( nonseekable_open(...) | nested_open(...) ) ...+> } @ read disable optional_qualifier exists @ identifier read_f; identifier f, p, s, off; type ssize_t, size_t, loff_t; expression E; identifier func; @@ ssize_t read_f(struct file *f, char *p, size_t s, loff_t *off) { <+... ( *off = E | *off += E | func(..., off, ...) | E = *off ) ...+> } @ read_no_fpos disable optional_qualifier exists @ identifier read_f; identifier f, p, s, off; type ssize_t, size_t, loff_t; @@ ssize_t read_f(struct file *f, char *p, size_t s, loff_t *off) { ... when != off } @ write @ identifier write_f; identifier f, p, s, off; type ssize_t, size_t, loff_t; expression E; identifier func; @@ ssize_t write_f(struct file *f, const char *p, size_t s, loff_t *off) { <+... ( *off = E | *off += E | func(..., off, ...) | E = *off ) ...+> } @ write_no_fpos @ identifier write_f; identifier f, p, s, off; type ssize_t, size_t, loff_t; @@ ssize_t write_f(struct file *f, const char *p, size_t s, loff_t *off) { ... when != off } @ fops0 @ identifier fops; @@ struct file_operations fops = { ... }; @ has_llseek depends on fops0 @ identifier fops0.fops; identifier llseek_f; @@ struct file_operations fops = { ... .llseek = llseek_f, ... }; @ has_read depends on fops0 @ identifier fops0.fops; identifier read_f; @@ struct file_operations fops = { ... .read = read_f, ... }; @ has_write depends on fops0 @ identifier fops0.fops; identifier write_f; @@ struct file_operations fops = { ... .write = write_f, ... }; @ has_open depends on fops0 @ identifier fops0.fops; identifier open_f; @@ struct file_operations fops = { ... .open = open_f, ... }; // use no_llseek if we call nonseekable_open //////////////////////////////////////////// @ nonseekable1 depends on !has_llseek && has_open @ identifier fops0.fops; identifier nso ~= "nonseekable_open"; @@ struct file_operations fops = { ... .open = nso, ... +.llseek = no_llseek, /* nonseekable */ }; @ nonseekable2 depends on !has_llseek @ identifier fops0.fops; identifier open.open_f; @@ struct file_operations fops = { ... .open = open_f, ... +.llseek = no_llseek, /* open uses nonseekable */ }; // use seq_lseek for sequential files ///////////////////////////////////// @ seq depends on !has_llseek @ identifier fops0.fops; identifier sr ~= "seq_read"; @@ struct file_operations fops = { ... .read = sr, ... +.llseek = seq_lseek, /* we have seq_read */ }; // use default_llseek if there is a readdir /////////////////////////////////////////// @ fops1 depends on !has_llseek && !nonseekable1 && !nonseekable2 && !seq @ identifier fops0.fops; identifier readdir_e; @@ // any other fop is used that changes pos struct file_operations fops = { ... .readdir = readdir_e, ... +.llseek = default_llseek, /* readdir is present */ }; // use default_llseek if at least one of read/write touches f_pos ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// @ fops2 depends on !fops1 && !has_llseek && !nonseekable1 && !nonseekable2 && !seq @ identifier fops0.fops; identifier read.read_f; @@ // read fops use offset struct file_operations fops = { ... .read = read_f, ... +.llseek = default_llseek, /* read accesses f_pos */ }; @ fops3 depends on !fops1 && !fops2 && !has_llseek && !nonseekable1 && !nonseekable2 && !seq @ identifier fops0.fops; identifier write.write_f; @@ // write fops use offset struct file_operations fops = { ... .write = write_f, ... + .llseek = default_llseek, /* write accesses f_pos */ }; // Use noop_llseek if neither read nor write accesses f_pos /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// @ fops4 depends on !fops1 && !fops2 && !fops3 && !has_llseek && !nonseekable1 && !nonseekable2 && !seq @ identifier fops0.fops; identifier read_no_fpos.read_f; identifier write_no_fpos.write_f; @@ // write fops use offset struct file_operations fops = { ... .write = write_f, .read = read_f, ... +.llseek = noop_llseek, /* read and write both use no f_pos */ }; @ depends on has_write && !has_read && !fops1 && !fops2 && !has_llseek && !nonseekable1 && !nonseekable2 && !seq @ identifier fops0.fops; identifier write_no_fpos.write_f; @@ struct file_operations fops = { ... .write = write_f, ... +.llseek = noop_llseek, /* write uses no f_pos */ }; @ depends on has_read && !has_write && !fops1 && !fops2 && !has_llseek && !nonseekable1 && !nonseekable2 && !seq @ identifier fops0.fops; identifier read_no_fpos.read_f; @@ struct file_operations fops = { ... .read = read_f, ... +.llseek = noop_llseek, /* read uses no f_pos */ }; @ depends on !has_read && !has_write && !fops1 && !fops2 && !has_llseek && !nonseekable1 && !nonseekable2 && !seq @ identifier fops0.fops; @@ struct file_operations fops = { ... +.llseek = noop_llseek, /* no read or write fn */ }; ===== End semantic patch ===== Signed-off-by: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de> Cc: Julia Lawall <julia@diku.dk> Cc: Christoph Hellwig <hch@infradead.org>
2010-03-30include cleanup: Update gfp.h and slab.h includes to prepare for breaking ↵Tejun Heo
implicit slab.h inclusion from percpu.h percpu.h is included by sched.h and module.h and thus ends up being included when building most .c files. percpu.h includes slab.h which in turn includes gfp.h making everything defined by the two files universally available and complicating inclusion dependencies. percpu.h -> slab.h dependency is about to be removed. Prepare for this change by updating users of gfp and slab facilities include those headers directly instead of assuming availability. As this conversion needs to touch large number of source files, the following script is used as the basis of conversion. http://userweb.kernel.org/~tj/misc/slabh-sweep.py The script does the followings. * Scan files for gfp and slab usages and update includes such that only the necessary includes are there. ie. if only gfp is used, gfp.h, if slab is used, slab.h. * When the script inserts a new include, it looks at the include blocks and try to put the new include such that its order conforms to its surrounding. It's put in the include block which contains core kernel includes, in the same order that the rest are ordered - alphabetical, Christmas tree, rev-Xmas-tree or at the end if there doesn't seem to be any matching order. * If the script can't find a place to put a new include (mostly because the file doesn't have fitting include block), it prints out an error message indicating which .h file needs to be added to the file. The conversion was done in the following steps. 1. The initial automatic conversion of all .c files updated slightly over 4000 files, deleting around 700 includes and adding ~480 gfp.h and ~3000 slab.h inclusions. The script emitted errors for ~400 files. 2. Each error was manually checked. Some didn't need the inclusion, some needed manual addition while adding it to implementation .h or embedding .c file was more appropriate for others. This step added inclusions to around 150 files. 3. The script was run again and the output was compared to the edits from #2 to make sure no file was left behind. 4. Several build tests were done and a couple of problems were fixed. e.g. lib/decompress_*.c used malloc/free() wrappers around slab APIs requiring slab.h to be added manually. 5. The script was run on all .h files but without automatically editing them as sprinkling gfp.h and slab.h inclusions around .h files could easily lead to inclusion dependency hell. Most gfp.h inclusion directives were ignored as stuff from gfp.h was usually wildly available and often used in preprocessor macros. Each slab.h inclusion directive was examined and added manually as necessary. 6. percpu.h was updated not to include slab.h. 7. Build test were done on the following configurations and failures were fixed. CONFIG_GCOV_KERNEL was turned off for all tests (as my distributed build env didn't work with gcov compiles) and a few more options had to be turned off depending on archs to make things build (like ipr on powerpc/64 which failed due to missing writeq). * x86 and x86_64 UP and SMP allmodconfig and a custom test config. * powerpc and powerpc64 SMP allmodconfig * sparc and sparc64 SMP allmodconfig * ia64 SMP allmodconfig * s390 SMP allmodconfig * alpha SMP allmodconfig * um on x86_64 SMP allmodconfig 8. percpu.h modifications were reverted so that it could be applied as a separate patch and serve as bisection point. Given the fact that I had only a couple of failures from tests on step 6, I'm fairly confident about the coverage of this conversion patch. If there is a breakage, it's likely to be something in one of the arch headers which should be easily discoverable easily on most builds of the specific arch. Signed-off-by: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org> Guess-its-ok-by: Christoph Lameter <cl@linux-foundation.org> Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com> Cc: Lee Schermerhorn <Lee.Schermerhorn@hp.com>
2010-01-25eventfd - allow atomic read and waitqueue removeDavide Libenzi
KVM needs a wait to atomically remove themselves from the eventfd ->poll() wait queue head, in order to handle correctly their IRQfd deassign operation. This patch introduces such API, plus a way to read an eventfd from its context. Signed-off-by: Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org> Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@redhat.com>
2009-12-22anonfd: Allow making anon files read-onlyRoland Dreier
It seems a couple places such as arch/ia64/kernel/perfmon.c and drivers/infiniband/core/uverbs_main.c could use anon_inode_getfile() instead of a private pseudo-fs + alloc_file(), if only there were a way to get a read-only file. So provide this by having anon_inode_getfile() create a read-only file if we pass O_RDONLY in flags. Signed-off-by: Roland Dreier <rolandd@cisco.com> Signed-off-by: Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>
2009-09-23anonfd: split interface into file creation and installDavide Libenzi
Split the anonfd interface into a bare file pointer creation one, and a file pointer creation plus install one. There are cases, like the usage of eventfds inside other kernel interfaces, where the file pointer created by anonfd needs to be used inside the initialization of other structures. As it is right now, as soon as anon_inode_getfd() returns, the kenrle can race with userspace closing the newly installed file descriptor. This patch, while keeping the old anon_inode_getfd(), introduces a new anon_inode_getfile() (whose services are reused in anon_inode_getfd()) that allows to split the file creation phase and the fd install one. Once all the kernel structures are initialized, the code can call the proper fd_install(). Gregory manifested the need for something like this inside KVM. Signed-off-by: Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org> Cc: Alexander Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk> Cc: James Morris <jmorris@namei.org> Cc: Peter Zijlstra <a.p.zijlstra@chello.nl> Cc: Gregory Haskins <ghaskins@novell.com> Acked-by: Serge Hallyn <serue@us.ibm.com> Acked-by: Roland Dreier <rolandd@cisco.com> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2009-07-01eventfd: revised interface and cleanupsDavide Libenzi
Change the eventfd interface to de-couple the eventfd memory context, from the file pointer instance. Without such change, there is no clean way to racely free handle the POLLHUP event sent when the last instance of the file* goes away. Also, now the internal eventfd APIs are using the eventfd context instead of the file*. This patch is required by KVM's IRQfd code, which is still under development. Signed-off-by: Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org> Cc: Gregory Haskins <ghaskins@novell.com> Cc: Rusty Russell <rusty@rustcorp.com.au> Cc: Benjamin LaHaise <bcrl@kvack.org> Cc: Avi Kivity <avi@redhat.com> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2009-06-12eventfd: export eventfd_signal and eventfd_fget for lguestRusty Russell
lguest wants to attach eventfds to guest notifications, and lguest is usually a module. Signed-off-by: Rusty Russell <rusty@rustcorp.com.au> To: Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org>
2009-04-01epoll keyed wakeups: make eventfd use keyed wakeupsDavide Libenzi
Introduce keyed event wakeups inside the eventfd code. Signed-off-by: Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org> Cc: Alan Cox <alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu> Cc: David Miller <davem@davemloft.net> Cc: William Lee Irwin III <wli@movementarian.org> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2009-04-01eventfd: improve support for semaphore-like behaviorDavide Libenzi
People started using eventfd in a semaphore-like way where before they were using pipes. That is, counter-based resource access. Where a "wait()" returns immediately by decrementing the counter by one, if counter is greater than zero. Otherwise will wait. And where a "post(count)" will add count to the counter releasing the appropriate amount of waiters. If eventfd the "post" (write) part is fine, while the "wait" (read) does not dequeue 1, but the whole counter value. The problem with eventfd is that a read() on the fd returns and wipes the whole counter, making the use of it as semaphore a little bit more cumbersome. You can do a read() followed by a write() of COUNTER-1, but IMO it's pretty easy and cheap to make this work w/out extra steps. This patch introduces a new eventfd flag that tells eventfd to only dequeue 1 from the counter, allowing simple read/write to make it behave like a semaphore. Simple test here: http://www.xmailserver.org/eventfd-sem.c To be back-compatible with earlier kernels, userspace applications should probe for the availability of this feature via #ifdef EFD_SEMAPHORE fd = eventfd2 (CNT, EFD_SEMAPHORE); if (fd == -1 && errno == EINVAL) <fallback> #else <fallback> #endif Signed-off-by: Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org> Cc: <linux-api@vger.kernel.org> Tested-by: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com> Cc: Ulrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2009-01-14[CVE-2009-0029] System call wrappers part 32Heiko Carstens
Signed-off-by: Heiko Carstens <heiko.carstens@de.ibm.com>
2008-07-24flag parameters: check magic constantsUlrich Drepper
This patch adds test that ensure the boundary conditions for the various constants introduced in the previous patches is met. No code is generated. [akpm@linux-foundation.org: fix alpha] Signed-off-by: Ulrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com> Acked-by: Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org> Cc: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@googlemail.com> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2008-07-24flag parameters: NONBLOCK in eventfdUlrich Drepper
This patch adds support for the EFD_NONBLOCK flag to eventfd2. The additional changes needed are minimal. The following test must be adjusted for architectures other than x86 and x86-64 and in case the syscall numbers changed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #include <fcntl.h> #include <stdio.h> #include <unistd.h> #include <sys/syscall.h> #ifndef __NR_eventfd2 # ifdef __x86_64__ # define __NR_eventfd2 290 # elif defined __i386__ # define __NR_eventfd2 328 # else # error "need __NR_eventfd2" # endif #endif #define EFD_NONBLOCK O_NONBLOCK int main (void) { int fd = syscall (__NR_eventfd2, 1, 0); if (fd == -1) { puts ("eventfd2(0) failed"); return 1; } int fl = fcntl (fd, F_GETFL); if (fl == -1) { puts ("fcntl failed"); return 1; } if (fl & O_NONBLOCK) { puts ("eventfd2(0) sets non-blocking mode"); return 1; } close (fd); fd = syscall (__NR_eventfd2, 1, EFD_NONBLOCK); if (fd == -1) { puts ("eventfd2(EFD_NONBLOCK) failed"); return 1; } fl = fcntl (fd, F_GETFL); if (fl == -1) { puts ("fcntl failed"); return 1; } if ((fl & O_NONBLOCK) == 0) { puts ("eventfd2(EFD_NONBLOCK) does not set non-blocking mode"); return 1; } close (fd); puts ("OK"); return 0; } ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Signed-off-by: Ulrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com> Acked-by: Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org> Cc: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@googlemail.com> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2008-07-24flag parameters: eventfdUlrich Drepper
This patch adds the new eventfd2 syscall. It extends the old eventfd syscall by one parameter which is meant to hold a flag value. In this patch the only flag support is EFD_CLOEXEC which causes the close-on-exec flag for the returned file descriptor to be set. A new name EFD_CLOEXEC is introduced which in this implementation must have the same value as O_CLOEXEC. The following test must be adjusted for architectures other than x86 and x86-64 and in case the syscall numbers changed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #include <fcntl.h> #include <stdio.h> #include <unistd.h> #include <sys/syscall.h> #ifndef __NR_eventfd2 # ifdef __x86_64__ # define __NR_eventfd2 290 # elif defined __i386__ # define __NR_eventfd2 328 # else # error "need __NR_eventfd2" # endif #endif #define EFD_CLOEXEC O_CLOEXEC int main (void) { int fd = syscall (__NR_eventfd2, 1, 0); if (fd == -1) { puts ("eventfd2(0) failed"); return 1; } int coe = fcntl (fd, F_GETFD); if (coe == -1) { puts ("fcntl failed"); return 1; } if (coe & FD_CLOEXEC) { puts ("eventfd2(0) sets close-on-exec flag"); return 1; } close (fd); fd = syscall (__NR_eventfd2, 1, EFD_CLOEXEC); if (fd == -1) { puts ("eventfd2(EFD_CLOEXEC) failed"); return 1; } coe = fcntl (fd, F_GETFD); if (coe == -1) { puts ("fcntl failed"); return 1; } if ((coe & FD_CLOEXEC) == 0) { puts ("eventfd2(EFD_CLOEXEC) does not set close-on-exec flag"); return 1; } close (fd); puts ("OK"); return 0; } ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [akpm@linux-foundation.org: add sys_ni stub] Signed-off-by: Ulrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com> Acked-by: Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org> Cc: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@googlemail.com> Cc: <linux-arch@vger.kernel.org> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2008-07-24flag parameters: anon_inode_getfd extensionUlrich Drepper
This patch just extends the anon_inode_getfd interface to take an additional parameter with a flag value. The flag value is passed on to get_unused_fd_flags in anticipation for a use with the O_CLOEXEC flag. No actual semantic changes here, the changed callers all pass 0 for now. [akpm@linux-foundation.org: KVM fix] Signed-off-by: Ulrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com> Acked-by: Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org> Cc: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@googlemail.com> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2008-05-01[PATCH] sanitize anon_inode_getfd()Al Viro
a) none of the callers even looks at inode or file returned by anon_inode_getfd() b) any caller that would try to look at those would be racy, since by the time it returns we might have raced with close() from another thread and that file would be pining for fjords. Signed-off-by: Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>
2008-02-06fs/eventfd.c should #include <linux/syscalls.h>Adrian Bunk
Every file should include the headers containing the prototypes for its global functions (in this case sys_eventfd()). Signed-off-by: Adrian Bunk <bunk@kernel.org> Cc: Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2007-05-18eventfd use waitqueue lock ...Davide Libenzi
The eventfd was using the unlocked waitqueue operations, but it was using a different lock, so poll_wait() would race with it. This makes eventfd directly use the waitqueue lock. Signed-off-by: Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2007-05-11signal/timer/event: eventfd coreDavide Libenzi
This is a very simple and light file descriptor, that can be used as event wait/dispatch by userspace (both wait and dispatch) and by the kernel (dispatch only). It can be used instead of pipe(2) in all cases where those would simply be used to signal events. Their kernel overhead is much lower than pipes, and they do not consume two fds. When used in the kernel, it can offer an fd-bridge to enable, for example, functionalities like KAIO or syslets/threadlets to signal to an fd the completion of certain operations. But more in general, an eventfd can be used by the kernel to signal readiness, in a POSIX poll/select way, of interfaces that would otherwise be incompatible with it. The API is: int eventfd(unsigned int count); The eventfd API accepts an initial "count" parameter, and returns an eventfd fd. It supports poll(2) (POLLIN, POLLOUT, POLLERR), read(2) and write(2). The POLLIN flag is raised when the internal counter is greater than zero. The POLLOUT flag is raised when at least a value of "1" can be written to the internal counter. The POLLERR flag is raised when an overflow in the counter value is detected. The write(2) operation can never overflow the counter, since it blocks (unless O_NONBLOCK is set, in which case -EAGAIN is returned). But the eventfd_signal() function can do it, since it's supposed to not sleep during its operation. The read(2) function reads the __u64 counter value, and reset the internal value to zero. If the value read is equal to (__u64) -1, an overflow happened on the internal counter (due to 2^64 eventfd_signal() posts that has never been retired - unlickely, but possible). The write(2) call writes an __u64 count value, and adds it to the current counter. The eventfd fd supports O_NONBLOCK also. On the kernel side, we have: struct file *eventfd_fget(int fd); int eventfd_signal(struct file *file, unsigned int n); The eventfd_fget() should be called to get a struct file* from an eventfd fd (this is an fget() + check of f_op being an eventfd fops pointer). The kernel can then call eventfd_signal() every time it wants to post an event to userspace. The eventfd_signal() function can be called from any context. An eventfd() simple test and bench is available here: http://www.xmailserver.org/eventfd-bench.c This is the eventfd-based version of pipetest-4 (pipe(2) based): http://www.xmailserver.org/pipetest-4.c Not that performance matters much in the eventfd case, but eventfd-bench shows almost as double as performance than pipetest-4. [akpm@linux-foundation.org: fix i386 build] [akpm@linux-foundation.org: add sys_eventfd to sys_ni.c] Signed-off-by: Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>