ubifs_gc_start_commit(9)

✨ ubifs_gc_start_commit(9) ✨

okay so this is a page from the Kernel API Manual, and the star of the show is ubifs_gc_start_commit — say that three times fast, i dare you 💅

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🎀 NAME 🎀

ubifs_gc_start_commit — garbage collection at start of commit. yes bestie, gc but for your file system, and it happens right at the start of commit. iconic behaviour honestly.

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

int ubifs_gc_start_commit (struct ubifs_info *c );

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🌸 ARGUMENTS 🌸

• c — the UBIFS file-system description object. that's it, that's the whole argument list. one (1) bestie. she's low maintenance 💖

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⭐ DESCRIPTION ⭐

okay so here's the tea 🔥 if a LEB has only dirty and free space, then we may safely unmap it and make it free. slay. no cap.

but — and this is the important part, don't @ me — we cannot do this with indexing LEBs, because dirty space may correspond to index nodes that are required for recovery 😭 so in that case, the LEB cannot be unmapped until after the next commit. periodt. that's just how it is.

This function returns 0 upon success and a negative error code upon failure. simple as that 🫶

ngl, that "cannot do this with indexing LEBs" bit is the whole mood of the function — do not skip it, do not vibe past it, it actually matters.

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

Kernel file ./fs/ubifs/gc.c, plus the whole friend group 🧚:

• switch_gc_head(9)
• data_nodes_cmp(9)
• sort_nodes(9)
• move_node(9)
• move_nodes(9)
• gc_sync_wbufs(9)
• ubifs_garbage_collect_leb(9)
• ubifs_garbage_collect(9)
• ubifs_gc_end_commit(9)
• ubifs_destroy_idx_gc(9)
• ubifs_get_idx_gc_leb(9)

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🌈 and that's the whole page, bestie! brought to you by ./fs/ubifs, dated October 2026. go forth and collect your garbage (respectfully) 💜✨