linux-kernel - [PATCH v3 02/14] ext4: don't zero the entire extent if EXT4_EXT_DATA_PARTIAL

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Message-ID: <20251129103247.686136-3-yi.zhang@huaweicloud.com>
Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2025 18:32:34 +0800
From: Zhang Yi <yi.zhang@...weicloud.com>
To: linux-ext4@...r.kernel.org
Cc: linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	tytso@....edu,
	adilger.kernel@...ger.ca,
	jack@...e.cz,
	ojaswin@...ux.ibm.com,
	yi.zhang@...wei.com,
	yi.zhang@...weicloud.com,
	yizhang089@...il.com,
	libaokun1@...wei.com,
	yangerkun@...wei.com
Subject: [PATCH v3 02/14] ext4: don't zero the entire extent if EXT4_EXT_DATA_PARTIAL_VALID1

From: Zhang Yi <yi.zhang@...wei.com>

When allocating initialized blocks from a large unwritten extent, or
when splitting an unwritten extent during end I/O and converting it to
initialized, there is currently a potential issue of stale data if the
extent needs to be split in the middle.

       0  A      B  N
       [UUUUUUUUUUUU]    U: unwritten extent
       [--DDDDDDDD--]    D: valid data
          |<-  ->| ----> this range needs to be initialized

ext4_split_extent() first try to split this extent at B with
EXT4_EXT_DATA_ENTIRE_VALID1 and EXT4_EXT_MAY_ZEROOUT flag set, but
ext4_split_extent_at() failed to split this extent due to temporary lack
of space. It zeroout B to N and mark the entire extent from 0 to N
as written.

       0  A      B  N
       [WWWWWWWWWWWW]    W: written extent
       [SSDDDDDDDDZZ]    Z: zeroed, S: stale data

ext4_split_extent() then try to split this extent at A with
EXT4_EXT_DATA_VALID2 flag set. This time, it split successfully and left
a stale written extent from 0 to A.

       0  A      B   N
       [WW|WWWWWWWWWW]
       [SS|DDDDDDDDZZ]

Fix this by pass EXT4_EXT_DATA_PARTIAL_VALID1 to ext4_split_extent_at()
when splitting at B, don't convert the entire extent to written and left
it as unwritten after zeroing out B to N. The remaining work is just
like the standard two-part split. ext4_split_extent() will pass the
EXT4_EXT_DATA_VALID2 flag when it calls ext4_split_extent_at() for the
second time, allowing it to properly handle the split. If the split is
successful, it will keep extent from 0 to A as unwritten.

Signed-off-by: Zhang Yi <yi.zhang@...wei.com>
Reviewed-by: Ojaswin Mujoo <ojaswin@...ux.ibm.com>
Reviewed-by: Baokun Li <libaokun1@...wei.com>
Cc: stable@...nel.org
---
 fs/ext4/extents.c | 13 ++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/fs/ext4/extents.c b/fs/ext4/extents.c
index 8d5ca450aa5d..1fee84ea20af 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/extents.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/extents.c
@@ -3310,6 +3310,15 @@ static struct ext4_ext_path *ext4_split_extent_at(handle_t *handle,
 		}

 		if (!err) {
+			/*
+			 * The first half contains partially valid data, the
+			 * splitting of this extent has not been completed, fix
+			 * extent length and ext4_split_extent() split will the
+			 * first half again.
+			 */
+			if (split_flag & EXT4_EXT_DATA_PARTIAL_VALID1)
+				goto fix_extent_len;
+
 			/* update the extent length and mark as initialized */
 			ex->ee_len = cpu_to_le16(ee_len);
 			ext4_ext_try_to_merge(handle, inode, path, ex);
@@ -3379,7 +3388,9 @@ static struct ext4_ext_path *ext4_split_extent(handle_t *handle,
 			split_flag1 |= EXT4_EXT_MARK_UNWRIT1 |
 				       EXT4_EXT_MARK_UNWRIT2;
 		if (split_flag & EXT4_EXT_DATA_VALID2)
-			split_flag1 |= EXT4_EXT_DATA_ENTIRE_VALID1;
+			split_flag1 |= map->m_lblk > ee_block ?
+				       EXT4_EXT_DATA_PARTIAL_VALID1 :
+				       EXT4_EXT_DATA_ENTIRE_VALID1;
 		path = ext4_split_extent_at(handle, inode, path,
 				map->m_lblk + map->m_len, split_flag1, flags1);
 		if (IS_ERR(path))
-- 
2.46.1