---
name: "d_alloc_anon"
section: "9"
platform: "linux"
package: "linux-manual-2.6.26"
version: "2.6.26-29"
release: "Debian 5.0 (Lenny)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/d_alloc_anon"
---

# d\_alloc\_anon(9)

allocate an anonymous dentry

## NAME

d\_alloc\_anon - allocate an anonymous dentry

## SYNOPSIS

**struct dentry \* d\_alloc\_anon(struct inode \*** *inode***);**

## ARGUMENTS

*inode*

inode to allocate the dentry for

## DESCRIPTION

This is similar to d\_alloc\_root. It is used by filesystems when creating a dentry for a given inode, often in the process of mapping a filehandle to a dentry. The returned dentry may be anonymous, or may have a full name (if the inode was already in the cache). The file system may need to make further efforts to connect this dentry into the dcache properly.

When called on a directory inode, we must ensure that the inode only ever has one dentry. If a dentry is found, that is returned instead of allocating a new one.

On successful return, the reference to the inode has been transferred to the dentry. If **NULL** is returned (indicating kmalloc failure), the reference on the inode has not been released.

## COPYRIGHT