linux-kernel - Re: [POC/RFC PATCH] overlayfs: constant inode numbers

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Date:   Tue, 29 Nov 2016 13:34:01 +0200
From:   Amir Goldstein <amir73il@...il.com>
To:     Miklos Szeredi <miklos@...redi.hu>
Cc:     "linux-unionfs@...r.kernel.org" <linux-unionfs@...r.kernel.org>,
        linux-fsdevel <linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org>,
        linux-kernel <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [POC/RFC PATCH] overlayfs: constant inode numbers

On Tue, Nov 29, 2016 at 12:16 PM, Miklos Szeredi <miklos@...redi.hu> wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 28, 2016 at 12:56 PM, Amir Goldstein <amir73il@...il.com> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
>
>> Well, not sure if you noticed my redirect_fh (rediect by file handle) work.
>> If differs from redirect by path in 2 major ways:
>> 1. Like OVL_XATTR_INO, redirect is set on copy up (but only for dirs)
>> 2. Lookup is much simpler (and most likely faster) then full path lookup
>>
>> It would be trivial to set oe->ino of merged dir from lower most entry in
>> ovl_lookup().
>
> Okay.  In fact always using the handle looks like a better option
> overall.  File handle should be unique for the lifetime of the
> filesystem, while inode numbers may be reused.
>
> Biggest drawback of the file handle based redirects is exactly that:
> makes backing up the overlay basically impossible, since file handles
> won't work after a backup + restore.  But as an optimization, in
> addition to path based redirects it would work fine and provide a good
> way to get the stable ino.
>

Not sure that I understand what you are suggesting, but I would be happy
to make the needed adjustments to redirect_fh per your request if you clarify
what you mean. From what I understand:

1. If redirect_dir=fh (and supported by layers), store lower handle
    on dir copy up in new xattr OVL_XATTR_FH
2. In ovl_rename(), set OVL_XATTR_REDIRECT regardless of OVL_XATTR_FH
3. In ovl_lookup_single(), carry both d.redirct and d.redirect_fh to next layer
4. In ovl_lookup_layer(), lookup by handle first then by path

Mind you that unlike OVL_XATTR_INO, OVL_XATTR_FH points to *next* inode
rather then *lowest* inode, so it does not really improve anything wrt
getting the
stable inode. Stable inode of merged dir is available after lookup in
oe->lowerstack[oe->numlower - 1].dentry->d_inode->i_ino
regardless of whether lookup was by handle or by path or no redirect at all, so
not sure what you meant by "... and provide a good way to get the stable ino."
Either I managed to confuse you, or I am missing something?

Amir.