Read/write files within a Linux kernel module
You should be aware that you should avoid file I/O from within Linux kernel when possible. The main idea is to go "one level deeper" and call VFS level functions instead of the syscall handler directly:
Includes:
#include <linux/fs.h>#include <asm/segment.h>#include <asm/uaccess.h>#include <linux/buffer_head.h>
Opening a file (similar to open):
struct file *file_open(const char *path, int flags, int rights) { struct file *filp = NULL; mm_segment_t oldfs; int err = 0; oldfs = get_fs(); set_fs(get_ds()); filp = filp_open(path, flags, rights); set_fs(oldfs); if (IS_ERR(filp)) { err = PTR_ERR(filp); return NULL; } return filp;}
Close a file (similar to close):
void file_close(struct file *file) { filp_close(file, NULL);}
Reading data from a file (similar to pread):
int file_read(struct file *file, unsigned long long offset, unsigned char *data, unsigned int size) { mm_segment_t oldfs; int ret; oldfs = get_fs(); set_fs(get_ds()); ret = vfs_read(file, data, size, &offset); set_fs(oldfs); return ret;}
Writing data to a file (similar to pwrite):
int file_write(struct file *file, unsigned long long offset, unsigned char *data, unsigned int size) { mm_segment_t oldfs; int ret; oldfs = get_fs(); set_fs(get_ds()); ret = vfs_write(file, data, size, &offset); set_fs(oldfs); return ret;}
Syncing changes a file (similar to fsync):
int file_sync(struct file *file) { vfs_fsync(file, 0); return 0;}
[Edit] Originally, I proposed using file_fsync, which is gone in newer kernel versions. Thanks to the poor guy suggesting the change, but whose change was rejected. The edit was rejected before I could review it.
Since version 4.14 of Linux kernel, vfs_read
and vfs_write
functions are no longer exported for use in modules. Instead, functions exclusively for kernel's file access are provided:
# Read the file from the kernel space.ssize_t kernel_read(struct file *file, void *buf, size_t count, loff_t *pos);# Write the file from the kernel space.ssize_t kernel_write(struct file *file, const void *buf, size_t count, loff_t *pos);
Also, filp_open
no longer accepts user-space string, so it can be used for kernel access directly (without dance with set_fs
).