ext4 filesystem corruption (resize2fs bug)

ext4 filesystem corruption (resize2fs bug)

[Andrea Biardi]

Hi,

Apologies for posting to the kernel mailing list, I'm trying to get the attention of the maintainer of e2fsprogs (tried emailing him directly a few times but never received a reply).

Almost 2 years ago I filed a bug against resize2fs that causes massive filesystem corruption (https://github.com/tytso/e2fsprogs/issues/146).
An e2image causing the bug was attached. Analysis and patch was also attached.

Other users seem to hit the same problem from time to time, but the bug is still there, untouched.
Considering the nature of the issue, I was wondering if there's anything that can be done to get somebody to look at it at some point?

Thanks
Andrea Biardi

Re: ext4 filesystem corruption (resize2fs bug)

[Theodore Ts'o]

On Wed, Apr 30, 2025 at 03:21:30PM +0000, Andrea Biardi wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Apologies for posting to the kernel mailing list, I'm trying to get
> the attention of the maintainer of e2fsprogs (tried emailing him
> directly a few times but never received a reply).

Hi,

I've checked my e-mail backlog and I don't seem to see any e-mails
from you.  What e-mail address did you use?

> Almost 2 years ago I filed a bug against resize2fs that causes massive filesystem corruption (https://github.com/tytso/e2fsprogs/issues/146).
> An e2image causing the bug was attached. Analysis and patch was also attached.

I saw the ping of the github issue #146 so it's been on my to do list.
I've noted the patch at https://github.com/viavi-ab/e2fsprogs and I'll
try to take look at it this week.

In general, though, the best place to send patches or bug reports is
to send them to linux-ext4@vger.kernel.org mailing list.  Other ext4
developers can review patches for both e2fsprogs and the ext4 kernel
code, and send suggestions to patch submitters when they are sent to
the linux-ext4 mailing list.

In contrast, I'm the only person who monitors the github project,
which happens only on a best-efforts basis, with patches sent to the
linux-ext4 mailing list are much higher priority, for which I have
tools like patchwork and b4 to track and apply outstanding patches.

Cheers,

						- Ted

RE: ext4 filesystem corruption (resize2fs bug)

[Andrea Biardi]

On Wednesday 30 April 2025 18:00, Theodore Ts'o <tytso@mit.edu> wrote:

> I've checked my e-mail backlog and I don't seem to see any e-mails
> from you.  What e-mail address did you use?

I might have used a different one, I don't recall myself!

> I saw the ping of the github issue #146 so it's been on my to do list.
> I've noted the patch at https://github.com/viavi-ab/e2fsprogs and I'll
> try to take look at it this week.

Much appreciated (and I'm no C developer, so take the patch with a grain
of salt!)

> In general, though, the best place to send patches or bug reports is
> to send them to linux-ext4@vger.kernel.org mailing list.  [..]

Understood, thanks. I wasn't aware and I thought creating a bug in github
was the right way to go about it. Perhaps it would be useful to explain the
process on github, e.g. in case somebody else finds critical bugs in
e2fsprogs that might need attention.

Cheers,
Andrea.