start_creating(9)

🎀 start_creating(9) 🎀

okay so bestie, we're deep in the Kernel API Manual and this is start_creating(9) — prepare to create a given name with permission checking. no cap, it's lowkey iconic. 💖

✨ NAME ✨

start_creating — prepare to create a given name with permission checking.

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

struct dentry * start_creating (struct mnt_idmap *idmap , struct dentry
*parent , struct qstr *name );

🌸 ARGUMENTS 🌸

• idmap — the idmap of the mount.
• parent — the directory in which to prepare to create the name.
• name — the name to be created.

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so before it creates an object in a directory, it takes locks and does a lookup first. permission checking (MAY_EXEC) is performed against idmap. periodt.

if the name already exists, you get a positive dentry back. behaviour is similar to O_CREAT without O_EXCL, which doesn't fail with -EEXIST. iykyk 🌈

👑 RETURN 👑

a negative or positive dentry, or an error. that's it, that's the return — slay. 💅

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

Kernel file ./fs/namei.c — and the whole bestie roster: check_acl(9), acl_permission_check(9), generic_permission(9), do_inode_permission(9), sb_permission(9), inode_permission(9), path_get(9), path_put(9), path_connected(9), try_to_unlazy(9), try_to_unlazy_next(9), complete_walk(9), may_follow_link(9), safe_hardlink_source(9), may_linkat(9), may_create_in_sticky(9), lookup_fast(9), start_dirop(9), end_dirop(9), kern_path_parent(9), vfs_path_parent_lookup(9), vfs_path_lookup(9), try_lookup_noperm(9), lookup_noperm(9), lookup_one(9), lookup_one_unlocked(9), lookup_one_positive_killable(9), lookup_one_positive_unlocked(9), lookup_noperm_unlocked(9), start_removing(9), start_creating_killable(9), start_removing_killable(9), start_creating_noperm(9), start_removing_noperm(9), start_creating_dentry(9), start_removing_dentry(9), __start_renaming(9), start_renaming(9), start_renaming_dentry(9), start_renaming_two_dentries(9), vfs_prepare_mode(9), vfs_create(9), atomic_open(9), vfs_lookup_open(9), vfs_tmpfile(9), kernel_tmpfile_open(9), end_creating_path(9), dentry_create(9), vfs_mknod(9), vfs_mkdir(9), vfs_rmdir(9), vfs_unlink(9), vfs_symlink(9), vfs_link(9), vfs_rename(9), vfs_readlink(9), vfs_get_link(9), page_get_link(9), page_put_link(9).

mwah 💋 this page is from the ./fs source, in the Kernel API Manual, dated October 2026. that's the whole thing, bestie — you ate. 🫶