Signed-off-by: Erez Zadok <ezk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> --- Documentation/filesystems/unionfs/concepts.txt | 199 ++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 files changed, 199 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-) create mode 100644 Documentation/filesystems/unionfs/concepts.txt diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/unionfs/concepts.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/unionfs/concepts.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7654ccc --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/unionfs/concepts.txt @@ -0,0 +1,199 @@ +Unionfs 2.1 CONCEPTS: +===================== + +This file describes the concepts needed by a namespace unification file +system. + + +Branch Priority: +================ + +Each branch is assigned a unique priority - starting from 0 (highest +priority). No two branches can have the same priority. + + +Branch Mode: +============ + +Each branch is assigned a mode - read-write or read-only. This allows +directories on media mounted read-write to be used in a read-only manner. + + +Whiteouts: +========== + +A whiteout removes a file name from the namespace. Whiteouts are needed when +one attempts to remove a file on a read-only branch. + +Suppose we have a two-branch union, where branch 0 is read-write and branch +1 is read-only. And a file 'foo' on branch 1: + +./b0/ +./b1/ +./b1/foo + +The unified view would simply be: + +./union/ +./union/foo + +Since 'foo' is stored on a read-only branch, it cannot be removed. A +whiteout is used to remove the name 'foo' from the unified namespace. Again, +since branch 1 is read-only, the whiteout cannot be created there. So, we +try on a higher priority (lower numerically) branch and create the whiteout +there. + +./b0/ +./b0/.wh.foo +./b1/ +./b1/foo + +Later, when Unionfs traverses branches (due to lookup or readdir), it +eliminate 'foo' from the namespace (as well as the whiteout itself.) + + +Duplicate Elimination: +====================== + +It is possible for files on different branches to have the same name. +Unionfs then has to select which instance of the file to show to the user. +Given the fact that each branch has a priority associated with it, the +simplest solution is to take the instance from the highest priority +(numerically lowest value) and "hide" the others. + + +Copyup: +======= + +When a change is made to the contents of a file's data or meta-data, they +have to be stored somewhere. The best way is to create a copy of the +original file on a branch that is writable, and then redirect the write +though to this copy. The copy must be made on a higher priority branch so +that lookup and readdir return this newer "version" of the file rather than +the original (see duplicate elimination). + + +Cache Coherency: +================ + +Unionfs users often want to be able to modify files and directories directly +on the lower branches, and have those changes be visible at the Unionfs +level. This means that data (e.g., pages) and meta-data (dentries, inodes, +open files, etc.) have to be synchronized between the upper and lower +layers. In other words, the newest changes from a layer below have to be +propagated to the Unionfs layer above. If the two layers are not in sync, a +cache incoherency ensues, which could lead to application failures and even +oopses. The Linux kernel, however, has a rather limited set of mechanisms +to ensure this inter-layer cache coherency---so Unionfs has to do most of +the hard work on its own. + +Maintaining Invariants: + +The way Unionfs ensures cache coherency is as follows. At each entry point +to a Unionfs file system method, we call a utility function to validate the +primary objects of this method. Generally, we call unionfs_file_revalidate +on open files, and __unionfs_d_revalidate_chain on dentries (which also +validates inodes). These utility functions check to see whether the upper +Unionfs object is in sync with any of the lower objects that it represents. +The checks we perform include whether the Unionfs superblock has a newer +generation number, or if any of the lower objects mtime's or ctime's are +newer. (Note: generation numbers change when branch-management commands are +issued, so in a way, maintaining cache coherency is also very important for +branch-management.) If indeed we determine that any Unionfs object is no +longer in sync with its lower counterparts, then we rebuild that object +similarly to how we do so for branch-management. + +While rebuilding Unionfs's objects, we also purge any page mappings and +truncate inode pages (see fs/unionfs/dentry.c:purge_inode_data). This is to +ensure that Unionfs will re-get the newer data from the lower branches. We +perform this purging only if the Unionfs operation in question is a reading +operation; if Unionfs is performing a data writing operation (e.g., ->write, +->commit_write, etc.) then we do NOT flush the lower mappings/pages: this is +because (1) a self-deadlock could occur and (2) the upper Unionfs pages are +considered more authoritative anyway, as they are newer and will overwrite +any lower pages. + +Unionfs maintains the following important invariant regarding mtime's, +ctime's, and atime's: the upper inode object's times are the max() of all of +the lower ones. For non-directory objects, there's only one object below, +so the mapping is simple; for directory objects, there could me multiple +lower objects and we have to sync up with the newest one of all the lower +ones. This invariant is important to maintain, especially for directories +(besides, we need this to be POSIX compliant). A union could comprise +multiple writable branches, each of which could change. If we don't reflect +the newest possible mtime/ctime, some applications could fail. For example, +NFSv2/v3 exports check for newer directory mtimes on the server to determine +if the client-side attribute cache should be purged. + +To maintain these important invariants, of course, Unionfs carefully +synchronizes upper and lower times in various places. For example, if we +copy-up a file to a top-level branch, the parent directory where the file +was copied up to will now have a new mtime: so after a successful copy-up, +we sync up with the new top-level branch's parent directory mtime. + +Implementation: + +This cache-coherency implementation is efficient because it defers any +synchronizing between the upper and lower layers until absolutely needed. +Consider the example a common situation where users perform a lot of lower +changes, such as untarring a whole package. While these take place, +typically the user doesn't access the files via Unionfs; only after the +lower changes are done, does the user try to access the lower files. With +our cache-coherency implementation, the entirety of the changes to the lower +branches will not result in a single CPU cycle spent at the Unionfs level +until the user invokes a system call that goes through Unionfs. + +We have considered two alternate cache-coherency designs. (1) Using the +dentry/inode notify functionality to register interest in finding out about +any lower changes. This is a somewhat limited and also a heavy-handed +approach which could result in many notifications to the Unionfs layer upon +each small change at the lower layer (imagine a file being modified multiple +times in rapid succession). (2) Rewriting the VFS to support explicit +callbacks from lower objects to upper objects. We began exploring such an +implementation, but found it to be very complicated--it would have resulted +in massive VFS/MM changes which are unlikely to be accepted by the LKML +community. We therefore believe that our current cache-coherency design and +implementation represent the best approach at this time. + +Limitations: + +Our implementation works in that as long as a user process will have caused +Unionfs to be called, directly or indirectly, even to just do +->d_revalidate; then we will have purged the current Unionfs data and the +process will see the new data. For example, a process that continually +re-reads the same file's data will see the NEW data as soon as the lower +file had changed, upon the next read(2) syscall (even if the file is still +open!) However, this doesn't work when the process re-reads the open file's +data via mmap(2) (unless the user unmaps/closes the file and remaps/reopens +it). Once we respond to ->readpage(s), then the kernel maps the page into +the process's address space and there doesn't appear to be a way to force +the kernel to invalidate those pages/mappings, and force the process to +re-issue ->readpage. If there's a way to invalidate active mappings and +force a ->readpage, let us know please (invalidate_inode_pages2 doesn't do +the trick). + +Our current Unionfs code has to perform many file-revalidation calls. It +would be really nice if the VFS would export an optional file system hook +->file_revalidate (similarly to dentry->d_revalidate) that will be called +before each VFS op that has a "struct file" in it. + +Certain file systems have micro-second granularity (or better) for inode +times, and asynchronous actions could cause those times to change with some +small delay. In such cases, Unionfs may see a changed inode time that only +differs by a tiny fraction of a second: such a change may be a false +positive indication that the lower object has changed, whereas if unionfs +waits a little longer, that false indication will not be seen. (These false +positives are harmless, because they would at most cause unionfs to +re-validate an object that may need no revalidation, and print a debugging +message that clutters the console/logs.) Therefore, to minimize the chances +of these situations, we delay the detection of changed times by a small +factor of a few seconds, called UNIONFS_MIN_CC_TIME (which defaults to 3 +seconds, as does NFS). This means that we will detect the change, only a +couple of seconds later, if indeed the time change persists in the lower +file object. This delayed detection has an added performance benefit: we +reduce the number of times that unionfs has to revalidate objects, in case +there's a lot of concurrent activity on both the upper and lower objects, +for the same file(s). Lastly, this delayed time attribute detection is +similar to how NFS clients operate (e.g., acregmin). + +For more information, see <http://unionfs.filesystems.org/>. -- 1.5.2.2 - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-fsdevel" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
