From: "Theodore Ts'o" <tytso@mit.edu>
To: Ext4 Developers List <linux-ext4@vger.kernel.org>
Cc: "Theodore Ts'o" <tytso@mit.edu>
Subject: [PATCH] ext4: always drain queued discard work in ext4_mb_release()
Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2026 02:33:30 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260327063330.1312426-1-tytso@mit.edu> (raw)
While reviewing recent ext4 patch[1], Sashiko raised the following
concern[2]:
> If the filesystem is initially mounted with the discard option,
> deleting files will populate sbi->s_discard_list and queue
> s_discard_work. If it is then remounted with nodiscard, the
> EXT4_MOUNT_DISCARD flag is cleared, but the pending s_discard_work is
> neither cancelled nor flushed.
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260319094545.19291-1-qiang.zhang@linux.dev/
[2] https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260319094545.19291-1-qiang.zhang%40linux.dev
The concern was valid, but it had nothing to do with the patch[1].
One of the problems with Sashiko in its current (early) form is that
it will detect pre-existing issues and report it as a problem with the
patch that it is reviewing.
In practice, it would be hard to hit deliberately (unless you are a
malicious syzkaller fuzzer), since it would involve mounting the file
system with -o discard, and then deleting a large number of files,
remounting the file system with -o nodiscard, and then immediately
unmounting the file system before the queued discard work has a change
to drain on its own.
Fix it because it's a real bug, and to avoid Sashiko from raising this
concern when analyzing future patches to mballoc.c.
Signed-off-by: Theodore Ts'o <tytso@mit.edu>
---
fs/ext4/mballoc.c | 12 +++++-------
1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
diff --git a/fs/ext4/mballoc.c b/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
index cb2bd87c355c..bb58eafb87bc 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
@@ -3893,13 +3893,11 @@ void ext4_mb_release(struct super_block *sb)
struct kmem_cache *cachep = get_groupinfo_cache(sb->s_blocksize_bits);
int count;
- if (test_opt(sb, DISCARD)) {
- /*
- * wait the discard work to drain all of ext4_free_data
- */
- flush_work(&sbi->s_discard_work);
- WARN_ON_ONCE(!list_empty(&sbi->s_discard_list));
- }
+ /*
+ * wait the discard work to drain all of ext4_free_data
+ */
+ flush_work(&sbi->s_discard_work);
+ WARN_ON_ONCE(!list_empty(&sbi->s_discard_list));
group_info = rcu_access_pointer(sbi->s_group_info);
if (group_info) {
--
2.51.0
reply other threads:[~2026-03-27 6:33 UTC|newest]
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