From: Hsiu-Hsien Lee <swinds24@gmail.com>
To: tytso@mit.edu
Cc: adilger.kernel@dilger.ca, jack@suse.cz,
libaokun@linux.alibaba.com, ojaswin@linux.ibm.com,
ritesh.list@gmail.com, yi.zhang@huawei.com,
harshadshirwadkar@gmail.com, linux-ext4@vger.kernel.org,
linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Hsiu-Hsien Lee <swinds24@gmail.com>,
stable@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH] ext4: fix fast commit replay failing on a read-only mount
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2026 12:43:53 +0800 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260812044353.1018268-1-swinds24@gmail.com> (raw)
A filesystem with fast_commit that needs recovery cannot be mounted
read-only:
EXT4-fs (dm-0): INFO: recovery required on readonly filesystem
EXT4-fs (dm-0): write access will be enabled during recovery
WARNING: CPU: 22 PID: 5544 at fs/ext4/ext4_jbd2.c:73
ext4_journal_check_start
__ext4_journal_start_sb
__ext4_unlink
ext4_fc_replay
do_one_pass
jbd2_journal_recover
jbd2_journal_load
__ext4_fill_super
JBD2: journal recovery failed
EXT4-fs (dm-0): error loading journal
Fast commit replay runs ext4 metadata operations instead of writing
blocks through the buffer cache: ext4_fc_replay_{unlink,link,create}()
reach __ext4_unlink() and __ext4_link(), which start a handle.
ext4_journal_check_start() returns -EROFS on a read-only sb, and as
that is not -ENOENT it propagates out of jbd2_journal_recover() and
kills the whole recovery. The EXT4_FC_REPLAY check that would hand
out a no-journal handle sits after the sb_rdonly() test, so replay can
never complete read-only.
ext4_load_journal() has already promised that write access will be
enabled during recovery, so make that true for the superblock as well:
clear SB_RDONLY across jbd2_journal_load() when recovery is needed on a
read-only mount and the devices are writable, as ext4_orphan_cleanup()
does. Unlike ext4_handle_error(), which avoids SB_RDONLY because it
would need s_umount, the sb here is still inside ext4_fill_super() and
not published, so nothing can observe it.
The failure is not clean either: the replay handlers passing a NULL
handle (ext4_fc_replay_inode(), _add_range(), _del_range()) never hit
ext4_journal_check_start() and do write, leaving a partially applied
fast commit behind.
Reproducer, where the unlink only ever reaches the fast commit area:
mke2fs -q -F -t ext4 -O fast_commit -b 4096 /dev/sdb3 262144
mount /dev/sdb3 /mnt
dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/victim bs=4k count=1 conv=fsync
sync # victim now in a full commit
rm /mnt/victim
dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/trigger bs=4k count=1 conv=fsync
<crash, or snapshot the device while mounted and write it back>
mount -o ro /dev/sdb3 /mnt
Without this patch that mount fails; with it recovery completes and
victim is gone, i.e. the UNLINK record was really replayed.
Fixes: 8016e29f4362 ("ext4: fast commit recovery path")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Hsiu-Hsien Lee <swinds24@gmail.com>
---
fs/ext4/super.c | 14 ++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 14 insertions(+)
diff --git a/fs/ext4/super.c b/fs/ext4/super.c
index 245f67d10ded..6c2b275a9cf3 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/super.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/super.c
@@ -6096,6 +6096,7 @@ static int ext4_load_journal(struct super_block *sb,
int err = 0;
int really_read_only;
int journal_dev_ro;
+ bool enable_write = false;
if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!ext4_has_feature_journal(sb)))
return -EFSCORRUPTED;
@@ -6152,6 +6153,7 @@ static int ext4_load_journal(struct super_block *sb,
}
ext4_msg(sb, KERN_INFO, "write access will "
"be enabled during recovery");
+ enable_write = true;
}
}
@@ -6168,7 +6170,19 @@ static int ext4_load_journal(struct super_block *sb,
if (save)
memcpy(save, ((char *) es) +
EXT4_S_ERR_START, EXT4_S_ERR_LEN);
+ /*
+ * Fast commit replay performs regular ext4 metadata updates
+ * (see ext4_fc_replay()) which refuse to run on a read-only
+ * superblock. We promised write access above, so make that
+ * true for the duration of the recovery, the same way
+ * ext4_orphan_cleanup() does. The superblock is not published
+ * yet, so nothing can observe the transient state.
+ */
+ if (enable_write)
+ sb->s_flags &= ~SB_RDONLY;
err = jbd2_journal_load(journal);
+ if (enable_write)
+ sb->s_flags |= SB_RDONLY;
if (save && memcmp(((char *) es) + EXT4_S_ERR_START,
save, EXT4_S_ERR_LEN)) {
memcpy(((char *) es) + EXT4_S_ERR_START,
--
2.43.0
next reply other threads:[~2026-08-12 4:44 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 3+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-08-12 4:43 Hsiu-Hsien Lee [this message]
2026-08-12 4:51 ` [PATCH] ext4: fix fast commit replay failing on a read-only mount sashiko-bot
2026-08-18 14:10 ` Jan Kara
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