[linux-cifs-client] Re: [PATCH] cifs: remove dnotify thread code

[Al Viro]

On Thu, Jan 08, 2009 at 09:32:09PM -0600, Steve French wrote:
> What worries me most about losing the ability to add directory change
> notification in the future (without putting the entry point back) the

If you put that one entry point back, please make sure to reserve a CVE number
first.

> lack of directory change notification is quite visible to the user
> when an open directory object on the desktop (gnome or kde) does not
> automatically refresh within a few seconds as files are added on the
> remote system (or on another client).
> 
> The old cifs implementation was broken (partially implemented) but it
> was "dead code" so was harmless (it required configuring with
> CONFIG_CIFS_EXPERIMENTAL and turning on a run time flag in
> /proc/fs/cifs to enable it) but it might not have been too bad to
> finish the implementation.

The interface for it had been inherently broken.  Whatever you do with the
cifs side, you'd have to change the VFS side.  Might as well start from scratch.
Again, *any* experimenting with that crap will have to start with figuring
out what to do with destruction of these suckers.