STRUCT RENAMEDATA(9)

💅 NAME

ok so struct renamedata — bestie, it's literally the struct that contains all information required for renaming. that's it, that's the whole job. it's the little info-bundle the rename machinery passes around so nobody has to juggle eighteen arguments at once. iconic behavior honestly 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

like, here's the whole shape of it, no cap:

struct renamedata {
    struct mnt_idmap *mnt_idmap;
    struct dentry *old_parent;
    struct dentry *old_dentry;
    struct dentry *new_parent;
    struct dentry *new_dentry;
    struct delegated_inode *delegated_inode;
    unsigned int flags;
 };

(yeah there's a slightly unhinged extra space before the closing brace in the original and I'm keeping it, because we do not edit source 💅)

🎀 MEMBERS 🎀

okay let's go through the cast, one by one, main-character energy only:

• mnt_idmap — the idmap of the mount where the rename is actually happening. like, which mount's identity-mapping vibes are we in? this one 🌈
• old_parent — parent of source. the source's mom, basically 👑
• old_dentry — source. the thing getting renamed, the one going through a glow-up ✨
• new_parent — parent of destination. where it's moving to, new family, new tree 🌸
• new_dentry — destination. the new name / new spot, slay 🦋
• delegated_inode — this one returns an inode that needs a delegation break. so it's not just carrying info, it's handing something back to you. lowkey the most interesting member fr fr
• flags — rename flags. the classic unsigned int of "here's how you want this rename to behave" 🎀

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

the kernel file to go stare at is ./include/linux/fs.h — and it comes with a whole friend group of (9) pages, so let's list every single one because we do not leave anyone out of the group chat 💖:

• enum positive_aop_returns(9)
• struct address_space(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)
• 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)

anyway that's the whole page bestie, go rename something responsibly 💜

sign-off era: this one lives in ./include/linux, dated October 2026 — and that's the vibe check, we're done here. mwah 💅🎀