From: Darrick J. Wong <djwong@xxxxxxxxxx> Now that we've decided on the ondisk format of parent pointers, update the documentation to reflect that. Signed-off-by: Darrick J. Wong <djwong@xxxxxxxxxx> --- .../filesystems/xfs-online-fsck-design.rst | 91 +++++++++++--------- 1 file changed, 50 insertions(+), 41 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/xfs-online-fsck-design.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/xfs-online-fsck-design.rst index 827fcd49fe6d5..8fb0fc30f3fa4 100644 --- a/Documentation/filesystems/xfs-online-fsck-design.rst +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/xfs-online-fsck-design.rst @@ -4464,10 +4464,11 @@ reconstruction of filesystem space metadata. The parent pointer feature, however, makes total directory reconstruction possible. -XFS parent pointers include the dirent name and location of the entry within -the parent directory. +XFS parent pointers contain the information needed to identify the +corresponding directory entry in the parent directory. In other words, child files use extended attributes to store pointers to -parents in the form ``(parent_inum, parent_gen, dirent_pos) → (dirent_name)``. +parents in the form ``(parent_inum, parent_gen, dirent_name_hash) → +(dirent_name)``. The directory checking process can be strengthened to ensure that the target of each dirent also contains a parent pointer pointing back to the dirent. Likewise, each parent pointer can be checked by ensuring that the target of @@ -4475,8 +4476,6 @@ each parent pointer is a directory and that it contains a dirent matching the parent pointer. Both online and offline repair can use this strategy. -**Note**: The ondisk format of parent pointers is not yet finalized. - +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | **Historical Sidebar**: | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ @@ -4518,8 +4517,54 @@ Both online and offline repair can use this strategy. | Chandan increased the maximum extent counts of both data and attribute | | forks, thereby ensuring that the extended attribute structure can grow | | to handle the maximum hardlink count of any file. | +| | +| For this second effort, the ondisk parent pointer format as originally | +| proposed was ``(parent_inum, parent_gen, dirent_pos) → (dirent_name)``. | +| The format was changed during development to eliminate the requirement | +| of repair tools needing to to ensure that the ``dirent_pos`` field | +| always matched when reconstructing a directory. | +| | +| There were a few other ways to have solved that problem: | +| | +| 1. The field could be designated advisory, since the other three values | +| are sufficient to find the entry in the parent. | +| However, this makes indexed key lookup impossible while repairs are | +| ongoing. | +| | +| 2. We could allow creating directory entries at specified offsets, which | +| solves the referential integrity problem but runs the risk that | +| dirent creation will fail due to conflicts with the free space in the | +| directory. | +| | +| These conflicts could be resolved by appending the directory entry | +| and amending the xattr code to support updating an xattr key and | +| reindexing the dabtree, though this would have to be performed with | +| the parent directory still locked. | +| | +| 3. Same as above, but remove the old parent pointer entry and add a new | +| one atomically. | +| | +| 4. Change the ondisk xattr format to | +| ``(parent_inum, name) → (parent_gen)``, which would provide the attr | +| name uniqueness that we require, without forcing repair code to | +| update the dirent position. | +| Unfortunately, this requires changes to the xattr code to support | +| attr names as long as 263 bytes. | +| | +| 5. Change the ondisk xattr format to ``(parent_inum, hash(name)) → | +| (name, parent_gen)``. | +| If the hash is sufficiently resistant to collisions (e.g. sha256) | +| then this should provide the attr name uniqueness that we require. | +| Names shorter than 247 bytes could be stored directly. | +| | +| In the end, it was decided that the hash collisions of #5 were not a | +| serious issue because the directory/attr btree can handle multiple | +| identical extended attribute keys. | +| Reusing the dirent name hash instead of sha256 is much faster and would | +| result in a more compact ondisk format. | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ + Case Study: Repairing Directories with Parent Pointers ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ @@ -4568,42 +4613,6 @@ The proposed patchset is the <https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/djwong/xfs-linux.git/log/?h=pptrs-online-dir-repair>`_ series. -**Unresolved Question**: How will repair ensure that the ``dirent_pos`` fields -match in the reconstructed directory? - -*Answer*: There are a few ways to solve this problem: - -1. The field could be designated advisory, since the other three values are - sufficient to find the entry in the parent. - However, this makes indexed key lookup impossible while repairs are ongoing. - -2. We could allow creating directory entries at specified offsets, which solves - the referential integrity problem but runs the risk that dirent creation - will fail due to conflicts with the free space in the directory. - - These conflicts could be resolved by appending the directory entry and - amending the xattr code to support updating an xattr key and reindexing the - dabtree, though this would have to be performed with the parent directory - still locked. - -3. Same as above, but remove the old parent pointer entry and add a new one - atomically. - -4. Change the ondisk xattr format to ``(parent_inum, name) → (parent_gen)``, - which would provide the attr name uniqueness that we require, without - forcing repair code to update the dirent position. - Unfortunately, this requires changes to the xattr code to support attr - names as long as 263 bytes. - -5. Change the ondisk xattr format to ``(parent_inum, hash(name)) → - (name, parent_gen)``. - If the hash is sufficiently resistant to collisions (e.g. sha256) then - this should provide the attr name uniqueness that we require. - Names shorter than 247 bytes could be stored directly. - -Discussion is ongoing under the `parent pointers patch deluge -<https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-xfs/msg69397.html>`_. - Case Study: Repairing Parent Pointers ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
