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Documentation/filesystems is, like much of the rest of the kernel's documentation, a jumble of unorganized information. Split the documentation into categories and try to bring some order to the top-level index.rst files. No text changes other than a few section-introductory blurbs; this is all just moving stuff around. Cc: linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org Cc: Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk> Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
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184 lines
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The Linux Journalling API
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=========================
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Overview
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--------
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Details
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~~~~~~~
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The journalling layer is easy to use. You need to first of all create a
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journal_t data structure. There are two calls to do this dependent on
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how you decide to allocate the physical media on which the journal
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resides. The :c:func:`jbd2_journal_init_inode` call is for journals stored in
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filesystem inodes, or the :c:func:`jbd2_journal_init_dev` call can be used
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for journal stored on a raw device (in a continuous range of blocks). A
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journal_t is a typedef for a struct pointer, so when you are finally
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finished make sure you call :c:func:`jbd2_journal_destroy` on it to free up
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any used kernel memory.
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Once you have got your journal_t object you need to 'mount' or load the
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journal file. The journalling layer expects the space for the journal
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was already allocated and initialized properly by the userspace tools.
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When loading the journal you must call :c:func:`jbd2_journal_load` to process
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journal contents. If the client file system detects the journal contents
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does not need to be processed (or even need not have valid contents), it
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may call :c:func:`jbd2_journal_wipe` to clear the journal contents before
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calling :c:func:`jbd2_journal_load`.
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Note that jbd2_journal_wipe(..,0) calls
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:c:func:`jbd2_journal_skip_recovery` for you if it detects any outstanding
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transactions in the journal and similarly :c:func:`jbd2_journal_load` will
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call :c:func:`jbd2_journal_recover` if necessary. I would advise reading
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:c:func:`ext4_load_journal` in fs/ext4/super.c for examples on this stage.
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Now you can go ahead and start modifying the underlying filesystem.
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Almost.
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You still need to actually journal your filesystem changes, this is done
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by wrapping them into transactions. Additionally you also need to wrap
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the modification of each of the buffers with calls to the journal layer,
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so it knows what the modifications you are actually making are. To do
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this use :c:func:`jbd2_journal_start` which returns a transaction handle.
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:c:func:`jbd2_journal_start` and its counterpart :c:func:`jbd2_journal_stop`,
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which indicates the end of a transaction are nestable calls, so you can
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reenter a transaction if necessary, but remember you must call
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:c:func:`jbd2_journal_stop` the same number of times as
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:c:func:`jbd2_journal_start` before the transaction is completed (or more
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accurately leaves the update phase). Ext4/VFS makes use of this feature to
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simplify handling of inode dirtying, quota support, etc.
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Inside each transaction you need to wrap the modifications to the
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individual buffers (blocks). Before you start to modify a buffer you
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need to call :c:func:`jbd2_journal_get_create_access()` /
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:c:func:`jbd2_journal_get_write_access()` /
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:c:func:`jbd2_journal_get_undo_access()` as appropriate, this allows the
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journalling layer to copy the unmodified
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data if it needs to. After all the buffer may be part of a previously
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uncommitted transaction. At this point you are at last ready to modify a
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buffer, and once you are have done so you need to call
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:c:func:`jbd2_journal_dirty_metadata`. Or if you've asked for access to a
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buffer you now know is now longer required to be pushed back on the
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device you can call :c:func:`jbd2_journal_forget` in much the same way as you
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might have used :c:func:`bforget` in the past.
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A :c:func:`jbd2_journal_flush` may be called at any time to commit and
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checkpoint all your transactions.
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Then at umount time , in your :c:func:`put_super` you can then call
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:c:func:`jbd2_journal_destroy` to clean up your in-core journal object.
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Unfortunately there a couple of ways the journal layer can cause a
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deadlock. The first thing to note is that each task can only have a
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single outstanding transaction at any one time, remember nothing commits
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until the outermost :c:func:`jbd2_journal_stop`. This means you must complete
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the transaction at the end of each file/inode/address etc. operation you
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perform, so that the journalling system isn't re-entered on another
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journal. Since transactions can't be nested/batched across differing
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journals, and another filesystem other than yours (say ext4) may be
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modified in a later syscall.
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The second case to bear in mind is that :c:func:`jbd2_journal_start` can block
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if there isn't enough space in the journal for your transaction (based
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on the passed nblocks param) - when it blocks it merely(!) needs to wait
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for transactions to complete and be committed from other tasks, so
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essentially we are waiting for :c:func:`jbd2_journal_stop`. So to avoid
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deadlocks you must treat :c:func:`jbd2_journal_start` /
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:c:func:`jbd2_journal_stop` as if they were semaphores and include them in
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your semaphore ordering rules to prevent
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deadlocks. Note that :c:func:`jbd2_journal_extend` has similar blocking
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behaviour to :c:func:`jbd2_journal_start` so you can deadlock here just as
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easily as on :c:func:`jbd2_journal_start`.
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Try to reserve the right number of blocks the first time. ;-). This will
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be the maximum number of blocks you are going to touch in this
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transaction. I advise having a look at at least ext4_jbd.h to see the
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basis on which ext4 uses to make these decisions.
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Another wriggle to watch out for is your on-disk block allocation
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strategy. Why? Because, if you do a delete, you need to ensure you
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haven't reused any of the freed blocks until the transaction freeing
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these blocks commits. If you reused these blocks and crash happens,
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there is no way to restore the contents of the reallocated blocks at the
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end of the last fully committed transaction. One simple way of doing
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this is to mark blocks as free in internal in-memory block allocation
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structures only after the transaction freeing them commits. Ext4 uses
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journal commit callback for this purpose.
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With journal commit callbacks you can ask the journalling layer to call
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a callback function when the transaction is finally committed to disk,
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so that you can do some of your own management. You ask the journalling
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layer for calling the callback by simply setting
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``journal->j_commit_callback`` function pointer and that function is
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called after each transaction commit. You can also use
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``transaction->t_private_list`` for attaching entries to a transaction
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that need processing when the transaction commits.
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JBD2 also provides a way to block all transaction updates via
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:c:func:`jbd2_journal_lock_updates()` /
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:c:func:`jbd2_journal_unlock_updates()`. Ext4 uses this when it wants a
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window with a clean and stable fs for a moment. E.g.
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::
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jbd2_journal_lock_updates() //stop new stuff happening..
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jbd2_journal_flush() // checkpoint everything.
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..do stuff on stable fs
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jbd2_journal_unlock_updates() // carry on with filesystem use.
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The opportunities for abuse and DOS attacks with this should be obvious,
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if you allow unprivileged userspace to trigger codepaths containing
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these calls.
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Summary
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~~~~~~~
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Using the journal is a matter of wrapping the different context changes,
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being each mount, each modification (transaction) and each changed
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buffer to tell the journalling layer about them.
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Data Types
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----------
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The journalling layer uses typedefs to 'hide' the concrete definitions
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of the structures used. As a client of the JBD2 layer you can just rely
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on the using the pointer as a magic cookie of some sort. Obviously the
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hiding is not enforced as this is 'C'.
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Structures
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~~~~~~~~~~
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.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/jbd2.h
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:internal:
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Functions
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---------
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The functions here are split into two groups those that affect a journal
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as a whole, and those which are used to manage transactions
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Journal Level
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.. kernel-doc:: fs/jbd2/journal.c
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:export:
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.. kernel-doc:: fs/jbd2/recovery.c
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:internal:
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Transasction Level
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.. kernel-doc:: fs/jbd2/transaction.c
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See also
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--------
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`Journaling the Linux ext2fs Filesystem, LinuxExpo 98, Stephen
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Tweedie <http://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/sct/ext3/journal-design.ps.gz>`__
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`Ext3 Journalling FileSystem, OLS 2000, Dr. Stephen
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Tweedie <http://olstrans.sourceforge.net/release/OLS2000-ext3/OLS2000-ext3.html>`__
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