linux-kernel - [PATCH 0/7] affs: stop using write_supers and s

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Date:	Tue,  5 Jun 2012 14:28:08 +0300
From:	Artem Bityutskiy <dedekind1@...il.com>
To:	Al Viro <viro@...IV.linux.org.uk>
Cc:	Linux FS Maling List <linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Linux Kernel Maling List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: [PATCH 0/7] affs: stop using write_supers and s_dirt

This patch-set makes AFFS file-system stop using the VFS '->write_supers()'
call-back and the '->s_dirt' superblock field because I plan to remove them
once all users are gone.

Like the other similar patch-sets, we switch to a delayed job for writing out
the superblock instead of using the 's_dirt' flag. Additionally, this patch-set
includes many clean-ups.

Reminder:

The goal is to get rid of the 'sync_supers()' kernel thread. This kernel thread
wakes up every 5 seconds (by default) and calls '->write_super()' for all
mounted file-systems. And the bad thing is that this is done even if all the
superblocks are clean. Moreover, many file-systems do not even need this end
they do not register the '->write_super()' method at all (e.g., btrfs).

So 'sync_supers()' most often just generates useless wake-ups and wastes power.
I am trying to make all file-systems independent of '->write_super()' and plan
to remove 'sync_supers()' and '->write_super()' completely once there are no
more users.

Al, in the past I was trying to upstream patches which optimized 'sync_super()',
but you wanted me to kill it completely instead, which I am trying to do
now, see http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/7/22/96

Tested using the fsstress test from the LTP project. AFFS has some issues
without my patches - I see it reporting about corrupted inodes. These patch-set
does not introduce new regressions. I did not try to resolve the AFFS problems
which are already there.

======
Overall status:

1. ext4: patches submitted, waiting for review from Ted Ts'o:
   https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/4/2/111
2. udf: patch submitted, should be in Jan Kara's tree:
   https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/6/4/233
3  exofs: patch submitted,
   https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/6/4/211
4. ext2:     done, see commit f72cf5e223a28d3b3ea7dc9e40464fd534e359e8
5. vfat:     done, see commit 78491189ddb6d84d4a4abae992ed891a236d0263
6. jffs2:    done, see commit 208b14e507c00ff7f108e1a388dd3d8cc805a443
7. reiserfs: done, see commit 033369d1af1264abc23bea2e174aa47cdd212f6f

TODO: hfs, hfsplus, sysv, ufs
======

 fs/affs/affs.h   |    8 ++++++
 fs/affs/bitmap.c |    4 +-
 fs/affs/super.c  |   69 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------
 3 files changed, 55 insertions(+), 26 deletions(-)

Thanks,
Artem.
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