start_renaming_two_dentries(9)

🌸 start_renaming_two_dentries(9) — the Kernel API Manual page you didn't know you needed 💅

okay so bestie, welcome to the start_renaming_two_dentries(9) page of the Kernel API Manual ✨ this is the lil' before step of a rename party — pull up a chair, we're locking dentries 🔒

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🎀 NAME

start_renaming_two_dentries — grab the locks on two dentries in their given parents so a rename can actually happen 💫

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🦋 SYNOPSIS

int start_renaming_two_dentries (struct renamedata *rd , struct dentry *old_dentry , struct dentry *new_dentry );

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🌸 ARGUMENTS

• rd — the rename data, and yes it's carrying the parent around with it 👜
• old_dentry — the dentry whose name is getting moved 🏃‍♀️
• new_dentry — the dentry it's moving to 🎯

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✨ DESCRIPTION

this is the vibe check before the rename 😤 it makes sure the locks are actually in place for the rename, and double-checks that the parentage is still correct. no cap, that's the whole job.

on success, the two dentries get stored in rd.old_dentry and rd.new_dentry, and rd.old_parent and rd.new_parent are confirmed to be the parents of those dentries 🫶 (yes, confirmed — we're not out here guessing).

references and the lock can be dropped with end_renaming, so don't ghost it 🏃‍♀️💨

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💀 RETURN

zero or an error. that's it, that's the whole mood 🙈

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👑 SEE ALSO

the entire ./fs/namei.c cinematic universe, kernel file ./fs/namei.c — literally all of these, we're listing every single one because we don't gatekeep here 💜

• 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_creating(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)
• 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)

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okay that's the page, you ate it up bestie 🍓 this one's from source ./fs, dated October 2026 — signed, sealed, and slayed 💅🎀