gfs2_unlink_inode(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

Okay so this is gfs2_unlink_inode(9), a page from the Kernel API Manual, and it's literally about removing an inode from its parent dir and unlinking it. Yes girl, we're doing filesystem surgery today 🩺💖

✨ NAME ✨

gfs2_unlink_inode — removes an inode from its parent dir and unlinks it 🎀

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

int gfs2_unlink_inode (struct gfs2_inode *dip , const struct dentry
       *dentry );

Like, that's the whole signature. Short king. 👑

🌸 ARGUMENTS 🌸

  • dip — the parent directory 💜 that's literally it, that's the vibe.
  • dentry — the dentry to unlink 🫶 the thing we're sending off into the void.

🧚 DESCRIPTION 🧚

So the way this gets called: it comes in with all the locks and in a transaction 🔒✨ — no cap, that's the requirement, and you do not skip it.

And here's the tea ☕ — this will only be called for a directory after it has been checked to ensure it is empty. Not me stressing that again but like, it's important: empty check first, then this. Periodt. 💅

🌈 RETURN 🌈

0 on success, or an error 😭 — either the slay outcome or the oops outcome, no in-between.

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

Gathering all the besties, iykyk 💖 Kernel file ./fs/gfs2/inode.c and the whole friend group:

Okay bye bestie, mwah 💋 🎀 — this one came from ./fs/gfs2, dated October 2026, and it's the gfs2_unlink_inode(9) page. Go unlink something (safely, with locks, in a transaction 🙈💀).

📦 where this page comes from