The existing asm-generic/stat.h specifies st_mtime, etc., as a 32-value,
and works well for 32-bit architectures (currently microblaze, score,
and 32-bit tile). However, for 64-bit architectures it isn't sufficient
to return 32 bits of time_t; this isn't good insurance against the 2037
rollover. (It also makes glibc support less convenient, since we can't
use glibc's handy STAT_IS_KERNEL_STAT mode.)
This change extends the two "timespec" fields for each of the three atime,
mtime, and ctime fields from "int" to "long". As a result, on 32-bit
platforms nothing changes, and 64-bit platforms will now work as expected.
The only wrinkle is 32-bit userspace under 64-bit kernels taking advantage
of COMPAT mode. For these, we leave the "struct stat64" definitions with
the "int" versions of the time_t and nsec fields, so that architectures
can implement compat_sys_stat64() and friends with sys_stat64(), etc.,
and get the expected 32-bit structure layout. This requires a
field-by-field copy in the kernel, implemented by the code guarded
under __ARCH_WANT_STAT64.
This does mean that the shape of the "struct stat" and "struct stat64"
structures is different on a 64-bit kernel, but only one of the two
structures should ever be used by any given process: "struct stat"
is meant for 64-bit userspace only, and "struct stat64" for 32-bit
userspace only. (On a 32-bit kernel the two structures continue to have
the same shape, since "long" is 32 bits.)
The alternative is keeping the two structures the same shape on 64-bit
kernels, which means a 64-bit time_t in "struct stat64" for 32-bit
processes. This is a little unnatural since 32-bit userspace can't
do anything with 64 bits of time_t information, since time_t is just
"long", not "int64_t"; and in any case 32-bit userspace might expect
to be running under a 32-bit kernel, which can't provide the high 32
bits anyway. In the case of a 32-bit kernel we'd then be extending the
kernel's 32-bit time_t to 64 bits, then truncating it back to 32 bits
again in userspace, for no particular reason. And, as mentioned above,
if we have 64-bit time_t for 32-bit processes we can't easily use glibc's
STAT_IS_KERNEL_STAT, since glibc's stat structure requires an embedded
"struct timespec", which is a pair of "long" (32-bit) values in a 32-bit
userspace. "Inventive" solutions are possible, but are pretty hacky.
Signed-off-by: Chris Metcalf <cmetcalf@tilera.com>
Acked-by: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>
Chris Metcalf