Re: [PATCH 4/4] ext3: Warn if mounting rw on a disk requiring stablepage writes

From: Darrick J. Wong
Date: Fri Dec 07 2012 - 20:11:02 EST


On Wed, Dec 05, 2012 at 01:12:28PM +0100, Jan Kara wrote:
> On Mon 26-11-12 18:17:40, Darrick J. Wong wrote:
> > On Thu, Nov 22, 2012 at 10:12:40AM +0100, Jan Kara wrote:
> > > On Wed 21-11-12 17:47:55, Darrick J. Wong wrote:
> > > > On Thu, Nov 22, 2012 at 08:47:13AM +1100, NeilBrown wrote:
> > > > > On Wed, 21 Nov 2012 22:33:33 +0100 Jan Kara <jack@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > On Wed 21-11-12 13:13:19, Darrick J. Wong wrote:
> > > > > > > On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 03:15:43AM +0100, Jan Kara wrote:
> > > > > > > > On Tue 20-11-12 18:00:56, Darrick J. Wong wrote:
> > > > > > > > > ext3 doesn't properly isolate pages from changes during writeback. Since the
> > > > > > > > > recommended fix is to use ext4, for now we'll just print a warning if the user
> > > > > > > > > tries to mount in write mode.
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > Signed-off-by: Darrick J. Wong <darrick.wong@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > > > > > > > > ---
> > > > > > > > > fs/ext3/super.c | 8 ++++++++
> > > > > > > > > 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+)
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > diff --git a/fs/ext3/super.c b/fs/ext3/super.c
> > > > > > > > > index 5366393..5b3725d 100644
> > > > > > > > > --- a/fs/ext3/super.c
> > > > > > > > > +++ b/fs/ext3/super.c
> > > > > > > > > @@ -1325,6 +1325,14 @@ static int ext3_setup_super(struct super_block *sb, struct ext3_super_block *es,
> > > > > > > > > "forcing read-only mode");
> > > > > > > > > res = MS_RDONLY;
> > > > > > > > > }
> > > > > > > > > + if (!read_only &&
> > > > > > > > > + queue_requires_stable_pages(bdev_get_queue(sb->s_bdev))) {
> > > > > > > > > + ext3_msg(sb, KERN_ERR,
> > > > > > > > > + "error: ext3 cannot safely write data to a disk "
> > > > > > > > > + "requiring stable pages writes; forcing read-only "
> > > > > > > > > + "mode. Upgrading to ext4 is recommended.");
> > > > > > > > > + res = MS_RDONLY;
> > > > > > > > > + }
> > > > > > > > > if (read_only)
> > > > > > > > > return res;
> > > > > > > > > if (!(sbi->s_mount_state & EXT3_VALID_FS))
> > > > > > > > Why this? ext3 should be fixed by your change to
> > > > > > > > filemap_page_mkwrite()... Or does testing show otherwise?
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Yes, it's still broken even with this new set of changes. Now that I think
> > > > > > > about it a little more, I recall that writeback mode was actually fine, so this
> > > > > > > is a little harsh.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Hm... looking at the ordered code a little more, it looks like
> > > > > > > ext3_ordered_write_end is calling journal_dirty_data_fn, which (I guess?) tries
> > > > > > > to write mapped buffers back through the journal? Taking it out seems to fix
> > > > > > > ordered mode, though I have a suspicion that it might very well break ordered
> > > > > > > mode too.
> > > > > > Oh, right. kjournald writing buffers directly (without setting
> > > > > > PageWriteback) will break things. So please, change warning to:
> > > >
> > > > Maybe we should just fix this anyway?
> > > >
> > > > I still have the patch that adds PG_stable (and changes the
> > > > wait_for_page_stable() test to use this flag instead of PG_writeback) kicking
> > > > around in my tree. I wrote a patch to jbd that changes journal_do_submit_data
> > > > to set PG_stable, call clear_page_dirty_for_io(), and unsets the stable bit in
> > > > the end_io processing.
> > > >
> > > > It seems to get rid of the checksum-after-write errors, though I'm not
> > > > convinced it's correct. But, I'll send both patches along.
> > > I'll check the patches. Fixing PageWriteback logic for ext3 is not easily
> > > doable due to lock ranking constraints - PageWriteback has to be set under
> > > PageLocked but that ranks above transaction start so kjournald cannot grab
> > > page locks so it cannot set PageWriteback... And changing the lock ordering
> > > is a major surgery.
> > >
> > > What could be doable is waiting for buffer locks from ext3's ->write_begin
> > > and ->page_mkwrite implementations in case stable writes are required. If
> > > your approach with a separate page bit doesn't work out (and I have some
> > > doubts about that as mm people are *really* thrifty with page bits).
> > >
> > > > > > /*
> > > > > > * In data=ordered mode, kjournald writes buffers without setting
> > > > > > * PageWriteback bit thus generic code does not properly wait for
> > > > > > * writeback of those buffers to finish.
> > > > > > */
> > > > > > if (!read_only &&
> > > > > > test_opt(sb, DATA_FLAGS) == EXT3_MOUNT_ORDERED_DATA &&
> > > >
> > > > test_opt(sb, DATA_FLAGS) != EXT3_MOUNT_WRITEBACK_DATA
> > > >
> > > > since I bet data=journal mode is also borken wrt PageWriteback.
> > > It is broken wrt PageWriteback but it actually waits for buffer locks in
> > > ->write_begin() so at least write path should be properly protected. But
> > > mmap is not handled properly there (although that wouldn't be that hard to
> > > fix). So I agree the condition should rather be what you suggest.
> Sorry for late reply. I was on vacation...

No worries; I have plenty of other patchsets to work on. :)

> > Hm. In journal mode, write_begin calls do_journal_get_write_access on each
> > buffer for a given page, and in turn, jbd's do_get_write_access calls
> > lock_buffer. Is that what you're referring to by "actually waits for buffer
> > locks"? I'm wondering how that helps us, since afaict PG_writeback doesn't get
> > set in that path, and I think it's a little early to be setting PG_writeback
> > anyway.
> It does help us. In ext3 data writeback is done either by flusher thread,
> that happens under PG_Writeback and generic code waits for that as need, or
> by kjournald - that happens under buffer lock and as you properly observed
> do_get_write_access() waits for that (and actually copies data that should
> go to disk to a separate buffer if needed).

Hm. jbd2 calls generic_writepages to flush those buffers out, which sets
PG_writeback like you'd expect. It'd be nice if you could do that like ext4
does... but then the ext3 writepage functions can call journal start/stop.

Maybe we could call block_write_full_page directly?

> > If the page has to be locked before the transaction starts, how much of a
> > problem is it to set PG_writeback? Even though that seems a bit early to be
> > doing that?
> Well, what you would need to make things consistent is to set
> PG_writeback from kjournald so that all writeback happens with PG_writeback
> set on the page. But setting has to happen while the page is locked and
> kjournald can never block on page lock because that would cause
> deadlocks...

Right now we try to submit_bh() everything on commit->t_sync_datalist without
the page lock. I guess we could try to lock (and set writeback on) every page
on that list, and anything that we can lock then goes on a new
t_locked_for_sync list. If we find a page that's already locked, simply back
out to the main kjournald loop and try the whole mess again. Once all the
pages are on the locked_for_sync list, then we can unlock the pages and
actually commit the transaction.

But, uck, that feels like courting disaster. Do people sleep with a page
locked? I'm unsure of the wisdom of making jbd do that. Can we stall out
forever if someone keeps shoving pages onto t_sync_data?

I actually tried a dumb trylock_page loop in journal_do_submit_data, but it
quickly stalled.

Ok, enough rambling, I'll give a few of my harebrained suggestions a try and
see what results.

--D
>
> Honza
> --
> Jan Kara <jack@xxxxxxx>
> SUSE Labs, CR
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