Re: [RFC PATCH 18/19] famfs_fuse: Add documentation

[Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@infradead.org>]

On 4/20/25 6:33 PM, John Groves wrote:
> Add Documentation/filesystems/famfs.rst and update MAINTAINERS
> 
> Signed-off-by: John Groves <john@groves.net>
> ---
>  Documentation/filesystems/famfs.rst | 142 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  Documentation/filesystems/index.rst |   1 +
>  MAINTAINERS                         |   1 +
>  3 files changed, 144 insertions(+)
>  create mode 100644 Documentation/filesystems/famfs.rst
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/famfs.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/famfs.rst
> new file mode 100644
> index 000000000000..b6b3500b6905
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/famfs.rst
> @@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
> +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
> +
> +.. _famfs_index:
> +
> +==================================================================
> +famfs: The fabric-attached memory file system
> +==================================================================
> +
> +- Copyright (C) 2024-2025 Micron Technology, Inc.
> +
> +Introduction
> +============
> +Compute Express Link (CXL) provides a mechanism for disaggregated or
> +fabric-attached memory (FAM). This creates opportunities for data sharing;
> +clustered apps that would otherwise have to shard or replicate data can
> +share one copy in disaggregated memory.
> +
> +Famfs, which is not CXL-specific in any way, provides a mechanism for
> +multiple hosts to concurrently access data in shared memory, by giving it
> +a file system interface. With famfs, any app that understands files can
> +access data sets in shared memory. Although famfs supports read and write,
> +the real point is to support mmap, which provides direct (dax) access to
> +the memory - either writable or read-only.
> +
> +Shared memory can pose complex coherency and synchronization issues, but
> +there are also simple cases. Two simple and eminently useful patterns that
> +occur frequently in data analytics and AI are:
> +
> +* Serial Sharing - Only one host or process at a time has access to a file
> +* Read-only Sharing - Multiple hosts or processes share read-only access
> +  to a file
> +
> +The famfs fuse file system is part of the famfs framework; User space

                                                              user

> +components [1] handle metadata allocation and distribution, and provide a
> +low-level fuse server to expose files that map directly to [presumably
> +shared] memory.
> +
> +The famfs framework manages coherency of its own metadata and structures,
> +but does not attempt to manage coherency for applications.
> +
> +Famfs also provides data isolation between files. That is, even though
> +the host has access to an entire memory "device" (as a devdax device), apps
> +cannot write to memory for which the file is read-only, and mapping one
> +file provides isolation from the memory of all other files. This is pretty
> +basic, but some experimental shared memory usage patterns provide no such
> +isolation.
> +
> +Principles of Operation
> +=======================
> +
> +Famfs is a file system with one or more devdax devices as a first-class
> +backing device(s). Metadata maintenance and query operations happen
> +entirely in user space.
> +
> +The famfs low-level fuse server daemon provides file maps (fmaps) and
> +devdax device info to the fuse/famfs kernel component so that
> +read/write/mapping faults can be handled without up-calls for all active
> +files.
> +
> +The famfs user space is responsible for maintaining and distributing
> +consistent metadata. This is currently handled via an append-only
> +metadata log within the memory, but this is orthogonal to the fuse/famfs
> +kernel code.
> +
> +Once instantiated, "the same file" on each host points to the same shared
> +memory, but in-memory metadata (inodes, etc.) is ephemeral on each host
> +that has a famfs instance mounted. Use cases are free to allow or not
> +allow mutations to data on a file-by-file basis.
> +
> +When an app accesses a data object in a famfs file, there is no page cache
> +involvement. The CPU cache is loaded directly from the shared memory. In
> +some use cases, this is an enormous reduction read amplification compared
> +to loading an entire page into the page cache.
> +
> +
> +Famfs is Not a Conventional File System
> +---------------------------------------
> +
> +Famfs files can be accessed by conventional means, but there are
> +limitations. The kernel component of fuse/famfs is not involved in the
> +allocation of backing memory for files at all; the famfs user space
> +creates files and responds as a low-level fuse server with fmaps and
> +devdax device info upon request.
> +
> +Famfs differs in some important ways from conventional file systems:
> +
> +* Files must be pre-allocated by the famfs framework; Allocation is never

                                                         allocation

> +  performed on (or after) write.
> +* Any operation that changes a file's size is considered to put the file
> +  in an invalid state, disabling access to the data. It may be possible to
> +  revisit this in the future. (Typically the famfs user space can restore
> +  files to a valid state by replaying the famfs metadata log.)
> +
> +Famfs exists to apply the existing file system abstractions to shared
> +memory so applications and workflows can more easily adapt to an
> +environment with disaggregated shared memory.


-- 
~Randy