linux-ext4 - Re: [PATCH 1/9] fsdax: improve the FS_DAX Kconfig description and help text

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Message-ID: <20210824065546.GA24465@lst.de>
Date:   Tue, 24 Aug 2021 08:55:46 +0200
From:   Christoph Hellwig <hch@....de>
To:     Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@...el.com>
Cc:     Christoph Hellwig <hch@....de>,
        Vishal Verma <vishal.l.verma@...el.com>,
        Dave Jiang <dave.jiang@...el.com>,
        Mike Snitzer <snitzer@...hat.com>,
        Matthew Wilcox <willy@...radead.org>,
        linux-xfs <linux-xfs@...r.kernel.org>,
        Linux NVDIMM <nvdimm@...ts.linux.dev>,
        linux-fsdevel <linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org>,
        linux-ext4 <linux-ext4@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/9] fsdax: improve the FS_DAX Kconfig description and
 help text

On Mon, Aug 23, 2021 at 11:45:52AM -0700, Dan Williams wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 23, 2021 at 5:37 AM Christoph Hellwig <hch@....de> wrote:
> >
> > Rename the main option text to clarify it is for file system access,
> > and add a bit of text that explains how to actually switch a nvdimm
> > to a fsdax capable state.
> >
> 
> Looks good, nice improvement. A couple suggestions below.

Does this looks ok?

---
>From c69617137a1e6b67122c871c946e7aa00b03978b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Christoph Hellwig <hch@....de>
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2021 10:57:37 +0200
Subject: fsdax: improve the FS_DAX Kconfig description and help text

Rename the main option text to clarify it is for file system access,
and add a bit of text that explains how to actually switch a nvdimm
to a fsdax capable state.

Signed-off-by: Christoph Hellwig <hch@....de>
---
 fs/Kconfig | 21 ++++++++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 18 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/Kconfig b/fs/Kconfig
index a7749c126b8e..bd21535a7620 100644
--- a/fs/Kconfig
+++ b/fs/Kconfig
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ source "fs/f2fs/Kconfig"
 source "fs/zonefs/Kconfig"
 
 config FS_DAX
-	bool "Direct Access (DAX) support"
+	bool "File system based Direct Access (DAX) support"
 	depends on MMU
 	depends on !(ARM || MIPS || SPARC)
 	select DEV_PAGEMAP_OPS if (ZONE_DEVICE && !FS_DAX_LIMITED)
@@ -53,8 +53,23 @@ config FS_DAX
 	  Direct Access (DAX) can be used on memory-backed block devices.
 	  If the block device supports DAX and the filesystem supports DAX,
 	  then you can avoid using the pagecache to buffer I/Os.  Turning
-	  on this option will compile in support for DAX; you will need to
-	  mount the filesystem using the -o dax option.
+	  on this option will compile in support for DAX.
+
+	  For a DAX device to support file system access it needs to have
+	  struct pages.  For the nfit based NVDIMMs this can be enabled
+	  using the ndctl utility:
+
+		# ndctl create-namespace --force --reconfig=namespace0.0 \
+			--mode=fsdax --map=mem
+
+	  See the 'create-namespace' man page for details on the overhead of
+	  --map=mem:
+	  https://docs.pmem.io/ndctl-user-guide/ndctl-man-pages/ndctl-create-namespace
+
+          For ndctl to work CONFIG_DEV_DAX needs to be enabled as well. For most
+	  file systems DAX support needs to be manually enabled globally or
+	  per-inode using a mount option as well.  See the file documentation in
+	  Documentation/filesystems/dax.rst for details.
 
 	  If you do not have a block device that is capable of using this,
 	  or if unsure, say N.  Saying Y will increase the size of the kernel
-- 
2.30.2