[PATCH v8] Add flags option to get xattr method paired to __vfs_getxattr

[Mark Salyzyn]

On 8/28/19 7:24 AM, Christoph Hellwig wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 27, 2019 at 08:05:15AM -0700, Mark Salyzyn wrote:
>> Replace arguments for get and set xattr methods, and __vfs_getxattr
>> and __vfs_setaxtr functions with a reference to the following now
>> common argument structure:
> Yikes.  That looks like a mess.  Why can't we pass a kernel-only
> flag in the existing flags field for ₋>set and add a flags field
> to ->get?  Passing methods by structure always tends to be a mess.

This was a response to GregKH@ criticism, an earlier patch set just 
added a flag as you stated to get method, until complaints of an 
excessively long argument list and fragility to add or change more 
arguments.

So many ways have been tried to skin this cat ... the risk was taken to 
please some, and we now have hundreds of stakeholders, when the first 
patch set was less than a dozen. A recipe for failure?

-- Mark