Re: [PATCH 09/11] xfs: remove the i_new_size field in struct xfs_inode

Dave Chinner
2011-12-18T22:13:18Z

On Sun, Dec 18, 2011 at 03:00:12PM -0500, Christoph Hellwig wrote:
> Now that we use the VFS i_size field throughout XFS there is no need for the
> i_new_size field any more given that the VFS i_size field gets updated
> in ->write_end before unlocking the page, and thus is a) always uptodate when
> writeback could see a page. Removing i_new_size also has the advantage that
> we will never have to trim back di_size during a failed buffered write,
> given that it never gets updated past i_size.
>
> Note that currently the generic direct I/O code only updates i_size after
> calling our end_io handler, which requires a small workaround to make
> sure di_size actually makes it to disk. I hope to fix this properly in
> the generic code.
>
> A downside is that we lose the support for parallel non-overlapping O_DIRECT
> appending writes that recently was added. I don't think keeping the complex
> and fragile i_new_size infrastructure for this is a good tradeoff - if we
> really care about parallel appending writers we should investigate turning
> the iolock into a range lock, which would also allow for parallel
> non-overlapping buffered writers.
>
> Signed-off-by: Christoph Hellwig <hch@lst.de>

Looks good.

Reviewed-by: Dave Chinner <dchinner@redhat.com>

--
Dave Chinner
david@fromorbit.com