ubifs_jnl_rename(9)

💅 ubifs_jnl_rename(9) 💅

okay so bestie, you found a page from the Kernel API Manual — yes, that ubifs_jnl_rename(9) one — and I'm gonna walk you through it like we're texting at 2am. pull up a chair. 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

ubifs_jnl_rename — rename a directory entry. that's it, that's the whole vibe. one job, and it does it. 👑

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

int ubifs_jnl_rename (struct ubifs_info *c , const struct inode *old_dir
, const struct inode *old_inode , const struct fscrypt_name *old_nm ,
const struct inode *new_dir , const struct inode *new_inode , const
struct fscrypt_name *new_nm , const struct inode *whiteout , int sync ,
int delete_orphan );

look at all those parameters. ten of them. she's high-maintenance and we respect it. returns an int, obviously. 💖

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🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

• c — the UBIFS file-system description object. it's giving "main character" — everything else just hangs off this.
• old_dir — parent inode of the directory entry you wanna rename. the old one. the origin story.
• old_inode — the inode of the directory entry you're renaming. that's the thing being moved, bestie.
• old_nm — the old name of the directory entry being renamed. its government name, if you will.
• new_dir — parent inode of the directory entry you're renaming to. new home, new energy.
• new_inode — the new directory entry's inode (or, plot twist, the directory entry's inode that's getting replaced). both cases, one slot. 🙈
• new_nm — the new name for the new directory entry. glow-up name. ✨
• whiteout — the whiteout inode. yes that's a real thing, no I'm not making it up.
• sync — non-zero if the write-buffer has to be synchronized. so: zero means nah, non-zero means yes bestie flush it. 🔥
• delete_orphan — indicates an orphan entry deletion for whiteout. lowkey important, don't skip it.

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💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so this function? it implements the re-name operation. and listen — this is not a lil casual thing, because it may involve writing up to 4 inodes (the new inode, the whiteout inode, and the old and new parent directory inodes) and 2 directory entries. that's a whole lot of writing, hence the jnl in the name — journal business, iykyk. 📓

then it marks the written inodes as clean and returns zero on success. iconic. zero is the good number here.

but if something goes wrong? it returns a negative error code. that's the "not me crying in errno" moment. 😭 no cap, negative means bad news.

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

the Kernel file ./fs/ubifs/journal.c, plus a whole squad of friends — literally the entire group chat:

• zero_ino_node_unused(9)
• zero_dent_node_unused(9)
• zero_trun_node_unused(9)
• reserve_space(9)
• write_head(9)
• __queue_and_wait(9)
• wait_for_reservation(9)
• wake_up_reservation(9)
• add_or_start_queue(9)
• make_reservation(9)
• release_head(9)
• finish_reservation(9)
• get_dent_type(9)
• pack_inode(9)
• mark_inode_clean(9)
• ubifs_jnl_update(9)
• ubifs_jnl_write_data(9)
• ubifs_jnl_write_inode(9)
• ubifs_jnl_delete_inode(9)
• ubifs_jnl_xrename(9)
• truncate_data_node(9)
• ubifs_jnl_truncate(9)
• ubifs_jnl_delete_xattr(9)
• ubifs_jnl_change_xattr(9)

all 24 of them, present and accounted for. 🫶 go read them, they're literally all in ./fs/ubifs/journal.c and they all ate. 💅

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heads up bestie: this page lives under ./fs/ubifs and it's dated October 2026, so yes, it's from the future (of this doc, anyway). stay hydrated, back up your filesystems, and remember — zero is success, negative is a whole mood. ⭐

bye bestie, ily, go rename something responsibly 🧚‍♀️💜🍓