linux-kernel - Re: [2.6.30 and later] file corruption on ext3 filesystem.

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Message-ID: <20100108040738.GF5011@shareable.org>
Date:	Fri, 8 Jan 2010 04:07:38 +0000
From:	Jamie Lokier <jamie@...reable.org>
To:	Tetsuo Handa <penguin-kernel@...ove.SAKURA.ne.jp>
Cc:	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [2.6.30 and later] file corruption on ext3 filesystem.

Tetsuo Handa wrote:
>   VMware Workstation 6.5.3 with 2CPUs / 512MB RAM.
>   ext3 filesystem ( /dev/sda1 ) mounted on / .

>   Run ./a.out and let the power fail (i.e. unplug the electric cable
>   or do equivalent) after more than 5 seconds (i.e. longer than kjournald's
>   commit interval). Probably 2 or 3 seconds after
>   "Let power fail after a few seconds.\n" was printed is the best.

It could be a kernel problem, but it could also be caused by VMware.

The combination of journalling, barriers, committing data safely to
disk and VMs is complicated and does not always provide filesystem
integrity on power failure, depending on many factors.

However, if you see corruption only with 2.6.30 and later, but not
with 2.6.29, that does suggest a kernel problem.

-- Jamie
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