[PATCH v3 00/12] vfs: change inode->i_ino from unsigned long to u64

Jeff Layton
2026-03-04T15:33:16Z

This version squashes all of the format-string changes and the i_ino
type change into the same patch. This results in a giant 600+ line patch
at the end of the series, but it does remain bisectable. Because the
patchset was reorganized (again) some of the R-b's and A-b's have been
dropped.

The entire pile is in the "iino-u64" branch of my tree, if anyone is
interested in testing this.

https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jlayton/linux.git/

Original cover letter follows:

----------------------8<-----------------------

Christian said [1] to "just do it" when I proposed this, so here we are!

For historical reasons, the inode->i_ino field is an unsigned long,
which means that it's 32 bits on 32 bit architectures. This has caused a
number of filesystems to implement hacks to hash a 64-bit identifier
into a 32-bit field, and deprives us of a universal identifier field for
an inode.

This patchset changes the inode->i_ino field from an unsigned long to a
u64. This shouldn't make any material difference on 64-bit hosts, but
32-bit hosts will see struct inode grow by at least 4 bytes. This could
have effects on slabcache sizes and field alignment.

The bulk of the changes are to format strings and tracepoints, since the
kernel itself doesn't care that much about the i_ino field. The first
patch changes some vfs function arguments, so check that one out
carefully.

With this change, we may be able to shrink some inode structures. For
instance, struct nfs_inode has a fileid field that holds the 64-bit
inode number. With this set of changes, that field could be eliminated.
I'd rather leave that sort of cleanups for later just to keep this
simple.

Much of this set was generated by LLM, but I attributed it to myself
since I consider this to be in the "menial tasks" category of LLM usage.

[1]: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fsdevel/20260219-portrait-winkt-959070cee42f@brauner/

Signed-off-by: Jeff Layton <jlayton@kernel.org>
---
Changes in v3:
- reorganize set for fewer patches, drop kino_t typedef and PRIino macro
- reorganize more TP_struct fields for better packing
- clean up ext4 goal calculation in ext4_ext_migrate()
- make audit_inode_hash() take a 64-bit argument
- Link to v2: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260302-iino-u64-v2-0-e5388800dae0@kernel.org

Changes in v2:
- Use a typedef and macro and do the change in two steps to make it cleanly bisectable
- Fix check_for_busy_inodes() in fscrypt
- Added patch to reorganize tracepoint structs for better packing
- Added patch to change sock.sk_ino to u64
- Added patch to clean up internal handling of inode numbers in audit subsystem
- Drop some unnecessary casts
- Link to v1: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260226-iino-u64-v1-0-ccceff366db9@kernel.org

---
Jeff Layton (12):
vfs: widen inode hash/lookup functions to u64
audit: widen ino fields to u64
net: change sock.sk_ino and sock_i_ino() to u64
vfs: widen trace event i_ino fields to u64
cachefiles: widen trace event i_ino fields to u64
ext2: widen trace event i_ino fields to u64
hugetlbfs: widen trace event i_ino fields to u64
zonefs: widen trace event i_ino fields to u64
ext4: widen trace event i_ino fields to u64
f2fs: widen trace event i_ino fields to u64
nilfs2: widen trace event i_ino fields to u64
treewide: change inode->i_ino from unsigned long to u64

drivers/dma-buf/dma-buf.c | 2 +-
drivers/gpu/drm/amd/amdgpu/amdgpu_object.c | 4 +-
fs/9p/vfs_addr.c | 4 +-
fs/9p/vfs_inode.c | 6 +-
fs/9p/vfs_inode_dotl.c | 6 +-
fs/affs/amigaffs.c | 10 +-
fs/affs/bitmap.c | 2 +-
fs/affs/dir.c | 2 +-
fs/affs/file.c | 20 +-
fs/affs/inode.c | 12 +-
fs/affs/namei.c | 14 +-
fs/affs/symlink.c | 2 +-
fs/afs/dir.c | 10 +-
fs/afs/dir_search.c | 2 +-
fs/afs/dynroot.c | 2 +-
fs/afs/inode.c | 2 +-
fs/autofs/inode.c | 2 +-
fs/befs/linuxvfs.c | 28 +-
fs/bfs/dir.c | 4 +-
fs/cachefiles/io.c | 6 +-
fs/cachefiles/namei.c | 12 +-
fs/cachefiles/xattr.c | 2 +-
fs/ceph/crypto.c | 4 +-
fs/coda/dir.c | 2 +-
fs/coda/inode.c | 2 +-
fs/cramfs/inode.c | 2 +-
fs/crypto/crypto.c | 2 +-
fs/crypto/hooks.c | 2 +-
fs/crypto/keyring.c | 4 +-
fs/crypto/keysetup.c | 2 +-
fs/dcache.c | 4 +-
fs/ecryptfs/crypto.c | 6 +-
fs/ecryptfs/file.c | 2 +-
fs/efs/inode.c | 6 +-
fs/eventpoll.c | 2 +-
fs/exportfs/expfs.c | 4 +-
fs/ext2/dir.c | 10 +-
fs/ext2/ialloc.c | 9 +-
fs/ext2/inode.c | 2 +-
fs/ext2/trace.h | 8 +-
fs/ext2/xattr.c | 14 +-
fs/ext4/dir.c | 2 +-
fs/ext4/ext4.h | 4 +-
fs/ext4/extents.c | 8 +-
fs/ext4/extents_status.c | 28 +-
fs/ext4/fast_commit.c | 8 +-
fs/ext4/ialloc.c | 10 +-
fs/ext4/indirect.c | 2 +-
fs/ext4/inline.c | 14 +-
fs/ext4/inode.c | 22 +-
fs/ext4/ioctl.c | 4 +-
fs/ext4/mballoc.c | 6 +-
fs/ext4/migrate.c | 2 +-
fs/ext4/move_extent.c | 20 +-
fs/ext4/namei.c | 10 +-
fs/ext4/orphan.c | 16 +-
fs/ext4/page-io.c | 10 +-
fs/ext4/super.c | 22 +-
fs/ext4/xattr.c | 10 +-
fs/f2fs/compress.c | 4 +-
fs/f2fs/dir.c | 2 +-
fs/f2fs/extent_cache.c | 8 +-
fs/f2fs/f2fs.h | 6 +-
fs/f2fs/file.c | 12 +-
fs/f2fs/gc.c | 2 +-
fs/f2fs/inline.c | 4 +-
fs/f2fs/inode.c | 48 +--
fs/f2fs/namei.c | 8 +-
fs/f2fs/node.c | 12 +-
fs/f2fs/recovery.c | 10 +-
fs/f2fs/xattr.c | 10 +-
fs/freevxfs/vxfs_bmap.c | 4 +-
fs/fserror.c | 2 +-
fs/hfs/catalog.c | 2 +-
fs/hfs/extent.c | 4 +-
fs/hfs/inode.c | 4 +-
fs/hfsplus/attributes.c | 10 +-
fs/hfsplus/catalog.c | 2 +-
fs/hfsplus/dir.c | 6 +-
fs/hfsplus/extents.c | 6 +-
fs/hfsplus/inode.c | 8 +-
fs/hfsplus/super.c | 6 +-
fs/hfsplus/xattr.c | 10 +-
fs/hpfs/dir.c | 4 +-
fs/hpfs/dnode.c | 4 +-
fs/hpfs/ea.c | 4 +-
fs/hpfs/inode.c | 4 +-
fs/inode.c | 49 ++-
fs/iomap/ioend.c | 2 +-
fs/iomap/trace.h | 8 +-
fs/isofs/compress.c | 2 +-
fs/isofs/dir.c | 2 +-
fs/isofs/inode.c | 6 +-
fs/isofs/namei.c | 2 +-
fs/jbd2/journal.c | 4 +-
fs/jbd2/transaction.c | 2 +-
fs/jffs2/dir.c | 4 +-
fs/jffs2/file.c | 4 +-
fs/jffs2/fs.c | 18 +-
fs/jfs/inode.c | 2 +-
fs/jfs/jfs_imap.c | 2 +-
fs/jfs/jfs_metapage.c | 2 +-
fs/lockd/svclock.c | 8 +-
fs/lockd/svcsubs.c | 2 +-
fs/locks.c | 6 +-
fs/minix/inode.c | 10 +-
fs/nfs/dir.c | 20 +-
fs/nfs/file.c | 8 +-
fs/nfs/filelayout/filelayout.c | 8 +-
fs/nfs/flexfilelayout/flexfilelayout.c | 8 +-
fs/nfs/inode.c | 6 +-
fs/nfs/nfs4proc.c | 4 +-
fs/nfs/pnfs.c | 12 +-
fs/nfsd/export.c | 2 +-
fs/nfsd/nfs4state.c | 4 +-
fs/nfsd/nfsfh.c | 4 +-
fs/nfsd/vfs.c | 2 +-
fs/nilfs2/alloc.c | 10 +-
fs/nilfs2/bmap.c | 2 +-
fs/nilfs2/btnode.c | 2 +-
fs/nilfs2/btree.c | 12 +-
fs/nilfs2/dir.c | 12 +-
fs/nilfs2/direct.c | 4 +-
fs/nilfs2/gcinode.c | 2 +-
fs/nilfs2/inode.c | 8 +-
fs/nilfs2/mdt.c | 2 +-
fs/nilfs2/namei.c | 2 +-
fs/nilfs2/segment.c | 2 +-
fs/notify/fdinfo.c | 4 +-
fs/nsfs.c | 4 +-
fs/ntfs3/super.c | 2 +-
fs/ocfs2/alloc.c | 2 +-
fs/ocfs2/aops.c | 4 +-
fs/ocfs2/dir.c | 8 +-
fs/ocfs2/dlmfs/dlmfs.c | 10 +-
fs/ocfs2/extent_map.c | 12 +-
fs/ocfs2/inode.c | 2 +-
fs/ocfs2/quota_local.c | 2 +-
fs/ocfs2/refcounttree.c | 10 +-
fs/ocfs2/xattr.c | 4 +-
fs/orangefs/inode.c | 2 +-
fs/overlayfs/export.c | 2 +-
fs/overlayfs/namei.c | 4 +-
fs/overlayfs/util.c | 2 +-
fs/pipe.c | 2 +-
fs/proc/fd.c | 2 +-
fs/proc/task_mmu.c | 4 +-
fs/qnx4/inode.c | 4 +-
fs/qnx6/inode.c | 2 +-
fs/ubifs/debug.c | 8 +-
fs/ubifs/dir.c | 28 +-
fs/ubifs/file.c | 28 +-
fs/ubifs/journal.c | 6 +-
fs/ubifs/super.c | 16 +-
fs/ubifs/tnc.c | 4 +-
fs/ubifs/xattr.c | 14 +-
fs/udf/directory.c | 18 +-
fs/udf/file.c | 2 +-
fs/udf/inode.c | 12 +-
fs/udf/namei.c | 8 +-
fs/udf/super.c | 2 +-
fs/ufs/balloc.c | 6 +-
fs/ufs/dir.c | 10 +-
fs/ufs/ialloc.c | 6 +-
fs/ufs/inode.c | 18 +-
fs/ufs/ufs_fs.h | 6 +-
fs/ufs/util.c | 2 +-
fs/verity/init.c | 2 +-
fs/zonefs/super.c | 8 +-
fs/zonefs/trace.h | 18 +-
include/linux/audit.h | 2 +-
include/linux/fs.h | 28 +-
include/net/sock.h | 4 +-
include/trace/events/cachefiles.h | 18 +-
include/trace/events/ext4.h | 544 ++++++++++++++---------------
include/trace/events/f2fs.h | 242 ++++++-------
include/trace/events/filelock.h | 34 +-
include/trace/events/filemap.h | 20 +-
include/trace/events/fs_dax.h | 20 +-
include/trace/events/fsverity.h | 30 +-
include/trace/events/hugetlbfs.h | 42 +--
include/trace/events/netfs.h | 8 +-
include/trace/events/nilfs2.h | 12 +-
include/trace/events/readahead.h | 18 +-
include/trace/events/timestamp.h | 16 +-
include/trace/events/writeback.h | 162 ++++-----
kernel/audit.h | 13 +-
kernel/audit_fsnotify.c | 4 +-
kernel/audit_watch.c | 12 +-
kernel/auditsc.c | 4 +-
kernel/events/uprobes.c | 4 +-
net/ax25/af_ax25.c | 2 +-
net/bluetooth/af_bluetooth.c | 4 +-
net/can/bcm.c | 2 +-
net/ipv4/ping.c | 2 +-
net/ipv4/raw.c | 2 +-
net/ipv4/tcp_ipv4.c | 2 +-
net/ipv4/udp.c | 2 +-
net/ipv6/datagram.c | 2 +-
net/ipv6/tcp_ipv6.c | 2 +-
net/key/af_key.c | 2 +-
net/netlink/af_netlink.c | 2 +-
net/netlink/diag.c | 2 +-
net/netrom/af_netrom.c | 4 +-
net/packet/af_packet.c | 2 +-
net/packet/diag.c | 2 +-
net/phonet/socket.c | 4 +-
net/rose/af_rose.c | 4 +-
net/sctp/proc.c | 4 +-
net/socket.c | 2 +-
net/unix/af_unix.c | 2 +-
net/unix/diag.c | 6 +-
net/x25/x25_proc.c | 4 +-
net/xdp/xsk_diag.c | 2 +-
security/apparmor/apparmorfs.c | 4 +-
security/integrity/integrity_audit.c | 2 +-
security/ipe/audit.c | 2 +-
security/lsm_audit.c | 10 +-
security/selinux/hooks.c | 10 +-
security/smack/smack_lsm.c | 12 +-
220 files changed, 1282 insertions(+), 1283 deletions(-)
---
base-commit: 842cfe0733c5a03982a7ae496de6fdc0dd661a41
change-id: 20260224-iino-u64-b44a3a72543c

Best regards,
--
Jeff Layton <jlayton@kernel.org>