linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] initrd: Fix logged Minix/Ext2 block numbers in identify_ramdisk

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Message-Id: <9FA25B6B-4B04-4A35-90E2-8537C1E228E6@linux.dev>
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2025 12:30:20 +0200
From: Thorsten Blum <thorsten.blum@...ux.dev>
To: "Darrick J. Wong" <djwong@...nel.org>
Cc: David Disseldorp <ddiss@...e.de>,
 Alexander Viro <viro@...iv.linux.org.uk>,
 Christian Brauner <brauner@...nel.org>,
 Jan Kara <jack@...e.cz>,
 linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org,
 linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] initrd: Fix logged Minix/Ext2 block numbers in
 identify_ramdisk_image()

On 15. Sep 2025, at 06:31, Darrick J. Wong wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 15, 2025 at 12:21:46PM +1000, David Disseldorp wrote:
>> Hi Thorsten,
>> 
>> On Sat, 13 Sep 2025 12:39:54 +0200, Thorsten Blum wrote:
>> 
>>> Both Minix and Ext2 filesystems are located at 'start_block + 1'. Update
>>> the log messages to report the correct block numbers.
>> 
>> I don't think this change is worthwhile. The offset of the superblock
>> within the filesystem image is an implementation detail.
> 
> ...and even if logging the detail is useful, for ext* the superblock is
> always at byte offset 1024, no matter which block (0 or 1) that is.

All logs ignore the individual filesystem offsets and only print the
starting block. This may not be particularly useful information, but the
printed starting blocks for minix/ext2 are off by one compared to the
others, which is at least confusing.

Since initrd seems to be on its way out anyway, it's probably not worth
changing this.

Thanks,
Thorsten