The i_version
field in struct inode
is meant to track changes to the data or metadata of a file. There are
some problems with the way that
i_version is being handled in the kernel,
so Jeff Layton led a filesystem session at the
2023 Linux Storage, Filesystem,
Memory-Management and BPF Summit to discuss them and what to do
about them. For the most part, there are solutions in the works that will
resolve most of the larger issues.

Source: LWN.net – [$] Improving i_version