--- /dev/null
+
+ext3_get_inode_loc() read inode's block only if:
+ 1) this inode has no copy in memory
+ 2) inode's block has another valid inode(s)
+
+this optimization allows to avoid needless I/O in two cases:
+1) just allocated inode is first valid in the inode's block
+2) kernel wants to write inode, but buffer in which inode
+ belongs to gets freed by VM
+
+
+
+
+diff -puN fs/ext3/inode.c~ext3-noread-inode fs/ext3/inode.c
+--- linux-2.5.73/fs/ext3/inode.c~ext3-noread-inode Thu Jul 10 12:03:52 2003
++++ linux-2.5.73-alexey/fs/ext3/inode.c Thu Jul 10 15:52:59 2003
+@@ -2286,7 +2286,7 @@ out_stop:
+ * inode's underlying buffer_head on success.
+ */
+
+-int ext3_get_inode_loc (struct inode *inode, struct ext3_iloc *iloc)
++int ext3_get_inode_loc (struct inode *inode, struct ext3_iloc *iloc, int in_mem)
+ {
+ struct buffer_head *bh = 0;
+ unsigned long block;
+@@ -2328,12 +2328,88 @@ int ext3_get_inode_loc (struct inode *in
+ EXT3_INODE_SIZE(inode->i_sb);
+ block = le32_to_cpu(gdp[desc].bg_inode_table) +
+ (offset >> EXT3_BLOCK_SIZE_BITS(inode->i_sb));
+- if (!(bh = sb_bread(inode->i_sb, block))) {
++ if (!(bh = sb_getblk(inode->i_sb, block))) {
+ ext3_error (inode->i_sb, "ext3_get_inode_loc",
+ "unable to read inode block - "
+ "inode=%lu, block=%lu", inode->i_ino, block);
+ goto bad_inode;
+ }
++ if (!buffer_uptodate(bh)) {
++ lock_buffer(bh);
++ if (buffer_uptodate(bh)) {
++ /* someone has already initialized buffer */
++ unlock_buffer(bh);
++ goto has_buffer;
++ }
++
++ /* we can't skip I/O if inode is on a disk only */
++ if (in_mem) {
++ struct buffer_head *bitmap_bh;
++ struct ext3_group_desc *desc;
++ int inodes_per_buffer;
++ int inode_offset, i;
++ int start;
++
++ /*
++ * if this inode is only valid in buffer we need not I/O
++ */
++ inodes_per_buffer = bh->b_size /
++ EXT3_INODE_SIZE(inode->i_sb);
++ inode_offset = ((inode->i_ino - 1) %
++ EXT3_INODES_PER_GROUP(inode->i_sb));
++ start = inode_offset & ~(inodes_per_buffer - 1);
++
++ /* check is inode bitmap is in cache? */
++ desc = ext3_get_group_desc(inode->i_sb, block_group, NULL);
++ if (!desc)
++ goto make_io;
++
++ bitmap_bh = sb_getblk(inode->i_sb, le32_to_cpu(desc->bg_inode_bitmap));
++ if (!bitmap_bh)
++ goto make_io;
++
++ /*
++ * if inode bitmap isn't in cache then we may end up by 2 reads
++ * instead of 1 read before optimizing. skip it
++ */
++ if (!buffer_uptodate(bitmap_bh)) {
++ brelse(bitmap_bh);
++ goto make_io;
++ }
++ for (i = start; i < start + inodes_per_buffer; i++) {
++ if (i == inode_offset)
++ continue;
++ if (ext3_test_bit(i, bitmap_bh->b_data))
++ break;
++ }
++ brelse(bitmap_bh);
++ if (i == start + inodes_per_buffer) {
++ /* all inodes (but our) are free. so, we skip I/O */
++ memset(bh->b_data, 0, bh->b_size);
++ set_buffer_uptodate(bh);
++ unlock_buffer(bh);
++ goto has_buffer;
++ }
++ }
++
++make_io:
++ /*
++ * No, there are another valid inodes in the buffer
++ * so, to preserve them we have to read buffer from
++ * the disk
++ */
++ get_bh(bh);
++ bh->b_end_io = end_buffer_io_sync;
++ submit_bh(READ, bh);
++ wait_on_buffer(bh);
++ if (!buffer_uptodate(bh)) {
++ ext3_error (inode->i_sb, "ext3_get_inode_loc",
++ "unable to read inode block - "
++ "inode=%lu, block=%lu", inode->i_ino, block);
++ goto bad_inode;
++ }
++ }
++ has_buffer:
+ offset &= (EXT3_BLOCK_SIZE(inode->i_sb) - 1);
+
+ iloc->bh = bh;
+@@ -2376,7 +2452,7 @@ void ext3_read_inode(struct inode * inod
+ endif
+ if (ext3_iopen_get_inode(inode))
+ return;
+- if (ext3_get_inode_loc(inode, &iloc))
++ if (ext3_get_inode_loc(inode, &iloc, 0))
+ goto bad_inode;
+ bh = iloc.bh;
+ raw_inode = iloc.raw_inode;
+@@ -2781,7 +2857,7 @@ ext3_reserve_inode_write(handle_t *handl
+ {
+ int err = 0;
+ if (handle) {
+- err = ext3_get_inode_loc(inode, iloc);
++ err = ext3_get_inode_loc(inode, iloc, 1);
+ if (!err) {
+ BUFFER_TRACE(iloc->bh, "get_write_access");
+ err = ext3_journal_get_write_access(handle, iloc->bh);
+@@ -2879,7 +2955,7 @@ ext3_pin_inode(handle_t *handle, struct
+
+ int err = 0;
+ if (handle) {
+- err = ext3_get_inode_loc(inode, &iloc);
++ err = ext3_get_inode_loc(inode, &iloc, 1);
+ if (!err) {
+ BUFFER_TRACE(iloc.bh, "get_write_access");
+ err = journal_get_write_access(handle, iloc.bh);
+diff -puN fs/ext3/ialloc.c~ext3-noread-inode fs/ext3/ialloc.c
+--- linux-2.5.73/fs/ext3/ialloc.c~ext3-noread-inode Thu Jul 10 13:05:37 2003
++++ linux-2.5.73-alexey/fs/ext3/ialloc.c Thu Jul 10 13:06:12 2003
+@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
+ *
+ * Return buffer_head of bitmap on success or NULL.
+ */
+-static struct buffer_head *
++struct buffer_head *
+ read_inode_bitmap(struct super_block * sb, unsigned long block_group)
+ {
+ struct ext3_group_desc *desc;
+diff -puN include/linux/ext3_fs.h~ext3-noread-inode include/linux/ext3_fs.h
+--- linux-2.5.73/include/linux/ext3_fs.h~ext3-noread-inode Thu Jul 10 13:41:59 2003
++++ linux-2.5.73-alexey/include/linux/ext3_fs.h Thu Jul 10 14:40:13 2003
+@@ -717,6 +717,8 @@ extern unsigned long ext3_count_free_ino
+ extern unsigned long ext3_count_dirs (struct super_block *);
+ extern void ext3_check_inodes_bitmap (struct super_block *);
+ extern unsigned long ext3_count_free (struct buffer_head *, unsigned);
++extern struct buffer_head * read_inode_bitmap(struct super_block *, unsigned long);
++
+
+
+ /* inode.c */
+@@ -724,7 +726,7 @@ extern int ext3_forget(handle_t *, int,
+ extern struct buffer_head * ext3_getblk (handle_t *, struct inode *, long, int, int *);
+ extern struct buffer_head * ext3_bread (handle_t *, struct inode *, int, int, int *);
+
+-extern int ext3_get_inode_loc (struct inode *, struct ext3_iloc *);
++extern int ext3_get_inode_loc (struct inode *, struct ext3_iloc *, int);
+ extern void ext3_read_inode (struct inode *);
+ extern void ext3_write_inode (struct inode *, int);
+ extern int ext3_setattr (struct dentry *, struct iattr *);
+
+_