We won't change i_xtime in ldiskfs code path. But also need keep normal function out of Lustre. So we using S_NOCMTIME to indicate invoked from Lustre. Index: linux-3.10.0-123.13.2.el7.x86_64/fs/ext4/ext4.h =================================================================== --- linux-3.10.0-123.13.2.el7.x86_64.orig/fs/ext4/ext4.h +++ linux-3.10.0-123.13.2.el7.x86_64/fs/ext4/ext4.h @@ -1336,6 +1336,8 @@ static inline struct ext4_inode_info *EX static inline struct timespec ext4_current_time(struct inode *inode) { + if (IS_NOCMTIME(inode)) + return inode->i_ctime; return (inode->i_sb->s_time_gran < NSEC_PER_SEC) ? current_fs_time(inode->i_sb) : CURRENT_TIME_SEC; }