GitLab

e7972912 ("writeback: don't issue wb_writeback_work if clean")
updated writeback path to avoid kicking writeback work items if there
are no inodes to be written out; unfortunately, the avoidance logic
was too aggressive and broke sync_inodes_sb().

* sync_inodes_sb() must write out I_DIRTY_TIME inodes but I_DIRTY_TIME
  inodes dont't contribute to bdi/wb_has_dirty_io() tests and were
  being skipped over.

* inodes are taken off wb->b_dirty/io/more_io lists after writeback
  starts on them.  sync_inodes_sb() skipping wait_sb_inodes() when
  bdi_has_dirty_io() breaks it by making it return while writebacks
  are in-flight.

This patch fixes the breakages by

* Removing bdi_has_dirty_io() shortcut from bdi_split_work_to_wbs().
  The callers are already testing the condition.

* Removing bdi_has_dirty_io() shortcut from sync_inodes_sb() so that
  it always calls into bdi_split_work_to_wbs() and wait_sb_inodes(...