Markus Trippelsdorf wrote: > I trashed my system this morning when I installed coreutils-8.11. > > What happened is that coreutils compiles and links correctly, but then > the following command (during the installation phase): > > ./ginstall chroot hostid nice who users pinky stty df stdbuf [ base64 ... > > apparently produces files which have the length of the originals but are > full of zeros. (and these were then installed to my live system, thereby > trashing it). ... Thanks again for the report. I believe that the following series addresses this problem and have confirmed that tests pass with 2.6.39-rc3 on all of ext3, ext4, btrfs and xfs -- though there was what appears to be a spurious failure in tests/cp/sparse-fiemap when run on xfs. On one iteration of this loop, with j=31, in these loops for i in $(seq 1 2 21); do for j in 1 2 31 100; do [in http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/coreutils.git/tree/tests/cp/sparse-fiemap] the two files compared equal, yet their extents did not match, even after merging. I'm inclined to skip the extent-comparing check at least for XFS, now. Here's the unusually-technical-for-NEWS summary: ** Changes in behavior cp's extent-based (FIEMAP) copying code is more reliable in the face of varying and undocumented file system semantics: - it no longer treats unwritten extents specially - a FIEMAP-based extent copy always uses the FIEMAP_FLAG_SYNC flag. Before, it would incur the performance penalty of that sync only for 2.6.38 and older kernels. We thought all problems would be resolved for 2.6.39. - it now attempts a FIEMAP copy only on a file that appears sparse. Sparse files are relatively unusual, and the copying code incurs the performance penalty of the now-mandatory sync only for them. >From 2783b52b273dd8fca824d8e1a64f8c4f41a54c00 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jim Meyering <meyering@xxxxxxxxxx> Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2011 09:49:15 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 1/4] copy: always use FIEMAP_FLAG_SYNC, for now * src/extent-scan.c (extent_need_sync): Always return true, to make the sole caller always use FIEMAP_FLAG_SYNC. This will doubtless have an undesirable performance impact, but we'll mitigate that shortly, by using extent_copy only on files with holes. --- src/extent-scan.c | 8 ++++++++ 1 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-) diff --git a/src/extent-scan.c b/src/extent-scan.c index da7eb9d..596e7f7 100644 --- a/src/extent-scan.c +++ b/src/extent-scan.c @@ -36,6 +36,13 @@ static bool extent_need_sync (void) { + /* For now always return true, to be on the safe side. + If/when FIEMAP semantics are well defined (before SEEK_HOLE support + is usable) and kernels implementing them are in use, we may relax + this once again. */ + return true; + +#if FIEMAP_BEHAVIOR_IS_DEFINED_AND_USABLE static int need_sync = -1; if (need_sync == -1) @@ -57,6 +64,7 @@ extent_need_sync (void) } return need_sync; +#endif } /* Allocate space for struct extent_scan, initialize the entries if -- 1.7.5.rc2.295.g19c42 >From f35019b45e2b1ff6e1940db7b452dcb8f674f190 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jim Meyering <meyering@xxxxxxxxxx> Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2011 10:15:15 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 2/4] copy: do not treat unwritten extents specially (avoid XFS corruption) * src/copy.c (extent_copy): Do not treat "unwritten extents" specially. Otherwise, with XFS and a release-candidate 2.6.39-rc3 kernel, and when using gold as your linker[*], and if you don't run "make check", you could end up installing files full of zeros instead of the expected binaries. For a lot of discussion, see http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.file-systems.xfs.general/37895 [*] Gold preallocates space for the files it writes, which is good. However, on XFS, that conspired with the other conditions to result the malfunctioning of the just-built install binary. --- src/copy.c | 5 ++++- 1 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-) diff --git a/src/copy.c b/src/copy.c index 9b53127..f6f9ea6 100644 --- a/src/copy.c +++ b/src/copy.c @@ -398,7 +398,10 @@ extent_copy (int src_fd, int dest_fd, char *buf, size_t buf_size, /* Treat an unwritten but allocated extent much like a hole. I.E. don't read, but don't convert to a hole in the destination, unless SPARSE_ALWAYS. */ - if (scan.ext_info[i].ext_flags & FIEMAP_EXTENT_UNWRITTEN) + /* For now, do not treat FIEMAP_EXTENT_UNWRITTEN specially, + because that (in combination with no sync) would lead to data + loss at least on XFS and ext4 when using 2.6.39-rc3 kernels. */ + if (0 && (scan.ext_info[i].ext_flags & FIEMAP_EXTENT_UNWRITTEN)) { empty_extent = true; last_ext_len = 0; -- 1.7.5.rc2.295.g19c42 >From 489261905dfee95cc1ebb708e8302bb246519b8b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jim Meyering <meyering@xxxxxxxxxx> Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2011 10:23:32 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 3/4] copy: factor out a tiny sparse-testing function * src/copy.c (HAVE_STRUCT_STAT_ST_BLOCKS): Define to 0 if undefined, so we can use it in the return expression, here: (is_probably_sparse): New function, factored out of... (copy_reg): ...here. Use the new function. --- src/copy.c | 23 +++++++++++++++++++---- 1 files changed, 19 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/src/copy.c b/src/copy.c index f6f9ea6..3db07b5 100644 --- a/src/copy.c +++ b/src/copy.c @@ -764,6 +764,23 @@ fchmod_or_lchmod (int desc, char const *name, mode_t mode) return lchmod (name, mode); } +#ifndef HAVE_STRUCT_STAT_ST_BLOCKS +# define HAVE_STRUCT_STAT_ST_BLOCKS 0 +#endif + +/* Use a heuristic to determine whether stat buffer SB comes from a file + with sparse blocks. If the file has fewer blocks than would normally + be needed for a file of its size, then at least one of the blocks in + the file is a hole. In that case, return true. */ +static bool +is_probably_sparse (struct stat const *sb) +{ + return (HAVE_STRUCT_STAT_ST_BLOCKS + && S_ISREG (sb->st_mode) + && ST_NBLOCKS (*sb) < sb->st_size / ST_NBLOCKSIZE); +} + + /* Copy a regular file from SRC_NAME to DST_NAME. If the source file contains holes, copies holes and blocks of zeros in the source file as holes in the destination file. @@ -984,15 +1001,13 @@ copy_reg (char const *src_name, char const *dst_name, if (x->sparse_mode == SPARSE_ALWAYS) make_holes = true; -#if HAVE_STRUCT_STAT_ST_BLOCKS /* Use a heuristic to determine whether SRC_NAME contains any sparse blocks. If the file has fewer blocks than would normally be needed for a file of its size, then at least one of the blocks in the file is a hole. */ - if (x->sparse_mode == SPARSE_AUTO && S_ISREG (src_open_sb.st_mode) - && ST_NBLOCKS (src_open_sb) < src_open_sb.st_size / ST_NBLOCKSIZE) + if (x->sparse_mode == SPARSE_AUTO + && is_probably_sparse (&src_open_sb)) make_holes = true; -#endif } /* If not making a sparse file, try to use a more-efficient -- 1.7.5.rc2.295.g19c42 >From 39fdf629729319ab4011cf15c0a16cba4e4aba1b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jim Meyering <meyering@xxxxxxxxxx> Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2011 11:21:09 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 4/4] copy: use FIEMAP (extent_copy) only for apparently-sparse files, to avoid the expense of extent_copy's unconditional use of FIEMAP_FLAG_SYNC. * src/copy.c (copy_reg): Do not attempt extent_copy on a file that appears to have no holes. * NEWS (Changes in behavior): Document this. At first I labeled this as a bug fix, but that would be inaccurate, considering there is no documentation of FIEMAP semantics, nor even consensus among kernel FS developers. Here's hoping SEEK_HOLE/SEEK_DATA support will soon make it into the linux kernel. --- NEWS | 13 +++++++++++++ src/copy.c | 37 +++++++++++++++++++++---------------- 2 files changed, 34 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-) diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS index 4873b5a..7bc2ef3 100644 --- a/NEWS +++ b/NEWS @@ -2,6 +2,19 @@ GNU coreutils NEWS -*- outline -*- * Noteworthy changes in release ?.? (????-??-??) [?] +** Changes in behavior + + cp's extent-based (FIEMAP) copying code is more reliable in the face + of varying and undocumented file system semantics: + - it no longer treats unwritten extents specially + - a FIEMAP-based extent copy always uses the FIEMAP_FLAG_SYNC flag. + Before, it would incur the performance penalty of that sync only + for 2.6.38 and older kernels. We thought all problems would be + resolved for 2.6.39. + - it now attempts a FIEMAP copy only on a file that appears sparse. + Sparse files are relatively unusual, and the copying code incurs + the performance penalty of the now-mandatory sync only for them. + * Noteworthy changes in release 8.11 (2011-04-13) [stable] diff --git a/src/copy.c b/src/copy.c index 3db07b5..6edf52e 100644 --- a/src/copy.c +++ b/src/copy.c @@ -993,6 +993,7 @@ copy_reg (char const *src_name, char const *dst_name, /* Deal with sparse files. */ bool make_holes = false; + bool sparse_src = false; if (S_ISREG (sb.st_mode)) { @@ -1005,8 +1006,8 @@ copy_reg (char const *src_name, char const *dst_name, blocks. If the file has fewer blocks than would normally be needed for a file of its size, then at least one of the blocks in the file is a hole. */ - if (x->sparse_mode == SPARSE_AUTO - && is_probably_sparse (&src_open_sb)) + sparse_src = is_probably_sparse (&src_open_sb); + if (x->sparse_mode == SPARSE_AUTO && sparse_src) make_holes = true; } @@ -1038,21 +1039,25 @@ copy_reg (char const *src_name, char const *dst_name, buf_alloc = xmalloc (buf_size + buf_alignment_slop); buf = ptr_align (buf_alloc, buf_alignment); - bool normal_copy_required; - /* Perform an efficient extent-based copy, falling back to the - standard copy only if the initial extent scan fails. If the - '--sparse=never' option is specified, write all data but use - any extents to read more efficiently. */ - if (extent_copy (source_desc, dest_desc, buf, buf_size, - src_open_sb.st_size, - S_ISREG (sb.st_mode) ? x->sparse_mode : SPARSE_NEVER, - src_name, dst_name, &normal_copy_required)) - goto preserve_metadata; - - if (! normal_copy_required) + if (sparse_src) { - return_val = false; - goto close_src_and_dst_desc; + bool normal_copy_required; + + /* Perform an efficient extent-based copy, falling back to the + standard copy only if the initial extent scan fails. If the + '--sparse=never' option is specified, write all data but use + any extents to read more efficiently. */ + if (extent_copy (source_desc, dest_desc, buf, buf_size, + src_open_sb.st_size, + S_ISREG (sb.st_mode) ? x->sparse_mode : SPARSE_NEVER, + src_name, dst_name, &normal_copy_required)) + goto preserve_metadata; + + if (! normal_copy_required) + { + return_val = false; + goto close_src_and_dst_desc; + } } off_t n_read; -- 1.7.5.rc2.295.g19c42 -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-ext4" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html