STRUCT ADDRESS_SPACE(9)

💖 NAME 💖

struct address_space — Contents of a cacheable, mappable object. This is from the kernel API manual, section 9, and bestie, struct address_space(9) is literally the main character here. 👑

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

       struct address_space {
           struct inode            *host;
           struct xarray           i_pages;
           struct rw_semaphore     invalidate_lock;
           gfp_t gfp_mask;
           atomic_t i_mmap_writable;
           struct rb_root_cached   i_mmap;
           unsigned long           nrpages;
           pgoff_t writeback_index;
           const struct address_space_operations *a_ops;
           unsigned long           flags;
           errseq_t wb_err;
           spinlock_t i_private_lock;
           struct rw_semaphore     i_mmap_rwsem;
        };

🌸 MEMBERS 🌸

Vibe check: every member is right here, no skips, no cap. 💅

• host — Owner, either the inode or the block_device. 👑
• i_pages — Cached pages. 🎀
• invalidate_lock — Guards coherency between page cache contents and file offset->disk block mappings in the filesystem during invalidates. It is also used to block modification of page cache contents through memory mappings. 🔥
• gfp_mask — Memory allocation flags to use for allocating pages. ✨
• i_mmap_writable — Number of VM_SHARED, VM_MAYWRITE mappings. 🦋
• i_mmap — Tree of private and shared mappings. 🌸
• nrpages — Number of page entries, protected by the i_pages lock. 💖
• writeback_index — Writeback starts here. 🫶
• a_ops — Methods. 🧚
• flags — Error bits and flags (AS_*). ⭐
• wb_err — The most recent error which has occurred. 😭
• i_private_lock — For use by the owner of the address_space. 🔐
• i_mmap_rwsem — Protects i_mmap and i_mmap_writable. 💜

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

Kernel file ./include/linux/fs.h, plus all these cross-refs — iykyk. 🌈

• enum positive_aop_returns(9)
• struct file_ra_state(9)
• struct file(9)
• i_uid_into_vfsuid(9)
• i_uid_needs_update(9)
• i_uid_update(9)
• i_gid_into_vfsgid(9)
• i_gid_needs_update(9)
• i_gid_update(9)
• inode_fsuid_set(9)
• inode_fsgid_set(9)
• fsuidgid_has_mapping(9)
• inode_set_ctime(9)
• file_write_started(9)
• file_write_not_started(9)
• struct renamedata(9)
• is_mgtime(9)
• iput_if_not_last(9)
• is_idmapped_mnt(9)
• file_start_write(9)
• file_end_write(9)
• kiocb_start_write(9)
• kiocb_end_write(9)
• name_is_dot_dotdot(9)
• name_contains_dotdot(9)
• inode_dio_begin(9)
• inode_dio_end(9)
• generic_ci_validate_strict_name(9)

✿ source: ./include/linux · date: October 2026 · manual page: struct address_space(9) ✿