[PATCH v6 6/6] docs: fuse: document io-uring buffer pool and zero-copy uapi
Joanne Koong <[email protected]> Thu, 16 Jul 2026 10:59:08 -0700
| Newsgroups | dev.linux.lists.fuse-devel |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
Add documentation for fuse over io-uring usage of buffer pools and zero-copy. Signed-off-by: Joanne Koong <[email protected]> --- .../filesystems/fuse/fuse-io-uring.rst | 36 ++++- Documentation/filesystems/fuse/index.rst | 1 + .../fuse/uapi/fuse-uapi-io-uring.rst | 129 ++++++++++++++++++ 3 files changed, 164 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) create mode 100644 Documentation/filesystems/fuse/uapi/fuse-uapi-io-uring.rst diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/fuse/fuse-io-uring.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/fuse/fuse-io-uring.rst index d73dd0dbd238..29f98057500d 100644 --- a/Documentation/filesystems/fuse/fuse-io-uring.rst +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/fuse/fuse-io-uring.rst @@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ and works. For generic details about FUSE see fuse.rst. This document also covers the current interface, which is still in development and might change. +For the userspace protocol, see +Documentation/filesystems/fuse/uapi/fuse-uapi-io-uring.rst. + Limitations =========== As of now not all requests types are supported through io-uring, userspace @@ -95,5 +98,34 @@ Sending requests with CQEs | <fuse_unlink() | | <sys_unlink() | - - +Buffer pools +============ + +Without a buffer pool, every entry needs to pass a dedicated payload buffer +large enough for the maximum payload size. A buffer pool decouples entries +from payload buffers. The server hands the kernel one contiguous buffer pool +of memory and when the kernel sends the server a request, it indicates the +offset into the pool for that request's payload. Internally, the kernel is +able to manage/optimize the buffer pool memory however it likes. + +A server may also register the pool region with io_uring as a fixed buffer. +The backing pages are then pinned once, avoiding per-request pinning and +address translation. This also allows servers to use the same registered +buffers for subsequent backing store I/O through io-uring, keeping data +in the same pinned pages without additional pinning / mapping overhead. + +Zero-copy +========= + +Zero-copy lets the server read from / write to the client's pages (pinned +user pages for direct I/O, or page-cache folios for buffered I/O) without an +intermediary payload copy. This requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN privileges. + +When a fuse request arrives for a file that opted into zero-copy, the kernel +registers the relevant pages (pinned user pages for direct i/o or underlying +page cache folios for buffered i/o) into a sparse slot in the server's +io_uring registered buffer table. The server can then operate on these pages +directly using io-uring fixed buffer operations (eg read_fixed / write_fixed) +and the kernel unregisters these pages when the request completes. +Non-page-backed args (eg op out headers) will go through the payload buffer as +normal. diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/fuse/index.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/fuse/index.rst index 393a845214da..3dada6c4057a 100644 --- a/Documentation/filesystems/fuse/index.rst +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/fuse/index.rst @@ -12,3 +12,4 @@ FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace) Technical Documentation fuse-io fuse-io-uring fuse-passthrough + uapi/fuse-uapi-io-uring diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/fuse/uapi/fuse-uapi-io-uring.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/fuse/uapi/fuse-uapi-io-uring.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..66b0fcbcde24 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/fuse/uapi/fuse-uapi-io-uring.rst @@ -0,0 +1,129 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +===================================== +FUSE-over-io-uring uapi documentation +===================================== + +Commands +======== + +``enum fuse_uring_cmd``: + +``FUSE_IO_URING_CMD_ADD_QUEUE`` + Create a queue identified by ``fuse_uring_cmd_req.qid``. Queue-wide + options are passed in ``fuse_uring_cmd_req.flags``: + + ``FUSE_URING_ZERO_COPY`` + Enable zero-copy on this queue. Requires ``CAP_SYS_ADMIN`` and a buffer + pool, which is added separately via ``ADD_BUFPOOL`` before registering + entries (see `Zero-copy`_). + +``FUSE_IO_URING_CMD_ADD_BUFPOOL`` + Register the payload buffer pool for an existing queue. The server provides + a single contiguous region in ``fuse_uring_cmd_req.bufpool.uaddr`` / + ``.len``. This command must be issued after ``ADD_QUEUE`` and before + registering any payload-carrying entries on that queue. Flags: + + ``FUSE_URING_REGISTERED_BUFPOOL`` + The pool region is registered ahead of time with io_uring to avoid per i/o + pinning/unpinning and mapping overhead. + +``FUSE_IO_URING_CMD_REGISTER`` + Register a ring entry (a long-lived SQE that carries the request header + iovec). For a zero-copy queue, ``fuse_uring_cmd_req.ent_zero_copy_buf_index`` + indicates the reserved registered buffer table slot this entry uses for + zero-copy (see `Zero-copy`_). + +``FUSE_IO_URING_CMD_COMMIT_AND_FETCH`` + Commit the reply for a completed request and fetch the next one. The + request is identified by ``fuse_uring_cmd_req.commit_id`` (the value the + kernel reported in ``fuse_uring_ent_in_out.commit_id``). + +Structures +========== + +``struct fuse_uring_cmd_req`` (80-byte SQE command area): + +============================ ================================================== +Field Meaning +============================ ================================================== +``flags`` Command-specific flags (see each command). +``commit_id`` Request id, for ``COMMIT_AND_FETCH``. +``qid`` Queue index. +``bufpool.uaddr`` Pool base address, for ``ADD_BUFPOOL``. +``bufpool.len`` Pool length in bytes, for ``ADD_BUFPOOL``. +``ent_zero_copy_buf_index`` Per-entry zero-copy slot, for ``REGISTER``. +============================ ================================================== + +``struct fuse_uring_ent_in_out`` (reported by the kernel per request): + +============================ ================================================== +Field Meaning +============================ ================================================== +``flags`` ``FUSE_URING_ENT_ZERO_COPY`` if zero-copied. +``commit_id`` Id to echo back in ``COMMIT_AND_FETCH``. +``payload_sz`` Total payload size in bytes (see `Zero-copy`_). +``offset`` Payload buffer offset within the pool. +============================ ================================================== + +Buffer pools +============ +Setup: + +* Issue ``ADD_QUEUE`` for the qid. +* Issue ``ADD_BUFPOOL`` with ``bufpool.uaddr`` and ``bufpool.len`` pointing + at the region. +* Register entries with ``REGISTER``. + +For every request that has a payload, the kernel reports where the payload +lives in ``struct fuse_uring_ent_in_out`` (part of +``struct fuse_uring_req_header``): + +``offset`` + Byte offset, within the pool region, for this request's payload buffer. + The server adds this to the pool base address to locate the payload. + +``payload_sz`` + Number of payload bytes for this request. + +To use registered buffers, the server should pass ``FUSE_URING_REGISTERED_BUFPOOL`` +as a flag to ``ADD_BUFPOOL`` and set ``IORING_URING_CMD_FIXED`` in +``sqe->uring_cmd_flags`` and put the index of the registered bufpool in +``sqe->buf_index``. The same registered buffer can be reused for the server's +backing-store I/O as well (e.g. ``IORING_OP_READ_FIXED`` / +``IORING_OP_WRITE_FIXED``). + +When using registered bufpools, every SQE the server submits must follow the +standard fixed-buffer protocol: set ``IORING_URING_CMD_FIXED`` in +``sqe->uring_cmd_flags`` and put the index of the registered bufpool in +``sqe->buf_index``. + +Zero-copy +========= +Requirements: + +* The server must be privileged (``CAP_SYS_ADMIN``). +* A zero-copy queue: ``ADD_QUEUE`` with the ``FUSE_URING_ZERO_COPY`` flag set. +* A buffer pool: ``ADD_BUFPOOL``. +* For each entry, ``REGISTER`` with ``ent_zero_copy_buf_index`` set to the + index this entry uses in the server's io_uring registered-buffer table. + This is where the kernel registers the request's pages for the server to + access (it is separate from the payload pool). On a non-zero-copy queue this + field must be 0. + +Zero-copy is selected per open file. The server sets the open-file flag in +the ``FUSE_OPEN`` / ``FUSE_CREATE`` reply: + +``FOPEN_IO_URING_ZERO_COPY`` + Reads/writes on this open file should use zero-copy. + +For a request that is zero-copied, the kernel sets ``FUSE_URING_ENT_ZERO_COPY`` +in ``fuse_uring_ent_in_out.flags`` and places the request's pages at the +entry's ``ent_zero_copy_buf_index``. The server then issues +``IORING_OP_READ_FIXED`` / ``IORING_OP_WRITE_FIXED`` against that index to +transfer the data directly to/from the client's pages. + +For such a request, ``payload_sz`` includes the zero-copied page bytes +(transferred via the registered buffer at ``ent_zero_copy_buf_index``). Any +non-page-backed args (e.g. op headers) are still copied through the pool +payload buffer at ``offset``. -- 2.52.0