XFS is using this function. It provides a best-effort, minimum-latency "get all the writeout underway" function. --- mm/filemap.c | 3 ++- 1 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff -puN mm/filemap.c~export-filemap_flush mm/filemap.c --- 25/mm/filemap.c~export-filemap_flush 2004-03-07 11:27:35.000000000 -0800 +++ 25-akpm/mm/filemap.c 2004-03-07 11:28:07.000000000 -0800 @@ -161,12 +161,13 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(filemap_fdatawrite); /* * This is a mostly non-blocking flush. Not suitable for data-integrity - * purposes. + * purposes - I/O may not be started against all dirty pages. */ int filemap_flush(struct address_space *mapping) { return __filemap_fdatawrite(mapping, WB_SYNC_NONE); } +EXPORT_SYMBOL(filemap_flush); /** * filemap_fdatawait - walk the list of locked pages of the given address _