fs: prepare for stackable filesystems backing file helpers

In preparation for factoring out some backing file io helpers from
overlayfs, move backing_file_open() into a new file fs/backing-file.c
and header.

Add a MAINTAINERS entry for stackable filesystems and add a Kconfig
FS_STACK which stackable filesystems need to select.

For now, the backing_file struct, the backing_file alloc/free functions
and the backing_file_real_path() accessor remain internal to file_table.c.
We may change that in the future.

Signed-off-by: Amir Goldstein <amir73il@gmail.com>

1 files changed, 48 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/fs/backing-file.c b/fs/backing-file.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..04b33036f709
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fs/backing-file.c
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
+/*
+ * Common helpers for stackable filesystems and backing files.
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2023 CTERA Networks.
+ */
+
+#include <linux/fs.h>
+#include <linux/backing-file.h>
+
+#include "internal.h"
+
+/**
+ * backing_file_open - open a backing file for kernel internal use
+ * @user_path:	path that the user reuqested to open
+ * @flags:	open flags
+ * @real_path:	path of the backing file
+ * @cred:	credentials for open
+ *
+ * Open a backing file for a stackable filesystem (e.g., overlayfs).
+ * @user_path may be on the stackable filesystem and @real_path on the
+ * underlying filesystem.  In this case, we want to be able to return the
+ * @user_path of the stackable filesystem. This is done by embedding the
+ * returned file into a container structure that also stores the stacked
+ * file's path, which can be retrieved using backing_file_user_path().
+ */
+struct file *backing_file_open(const struct path *user_path, int flags,
+			       const struct path *real_path,
+			       const struct cred *cred)
+{
+	struct file *f;
+	int error;
+
+	f = alloc_empty_backing_file(flags, cred);
+	if (IS_ERR(f))
+		return f;
+
+	path_get(user_path);
+	*backing_file_user_path(f) = *user_path;
+	error = vfs_open(real_path, f);
+	if (error) {
+		fput(f);
+		f = ERR_PTR(error);
+	}
+
+	return f;
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(backing_file_open);