From: Phil White <cerise-xfs@l.armory.com>
To: Dave Chinner <david@fromorbit.com>
Cc: Phil White <cerise-xfs@l.armory.com>,
Eric Sandeen <sandeen@sandeen.net>,
xfs@oss.sgi.com
Subject: Re: Problem with mkfs.xfs on a regular file
Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 03:47:05 -0800 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20131128114705.GJ13101@boogeyman> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20131128100107.GN10988@dastard>
On Thu, Nov 28, 2013 at 09:01:07PM +1100, Dave Chinner wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 27, 2013 at 11:34:35PM -0600, Eric Sandeen wrote:
> > If only we had some way to tell, programatically, whether the mkfs target
> > was a regular file or a block device, eh? ;)
> >
> > Seriously, I always thought the requirment to specify "-d file" was silly.
> > And now I think it's even more silly, if it actually is required for
> > proper behavior...
>
> It has always been required if you want mkfs to create the file for
> you. And given that doing stuff like ioctl(BLKDISCARD) on files is
> completely wrong, so I think it really is needed...
>
> > > What mkfs needs to do is reject devices that are files when "-d
> > > file", "-l file" and "-r file" is not specified, and the problem
> > > will go away because it will catch users who forget to tell mkfs
> > > that it is supposed to be operating on an image file...
> >
> > Or maybe just stat() it, and DTRT?
>
> Well, we need to stat it to make sure that it's a file if "-d file"
> is specified, and a block device if it's not. That will prevent this
> problem. Every other xfsprogs utility has to be told that it is
> being pointed at an image file rather than a block device, so why
> should mkfs be any different?
FWIW, I have a patch to just stat() and discard LIBXFS_DIRECT if the
target is not a block device. It worked for what I was doing and I
wouldn't mind cleaning it up if need be.
The main thing is that it seems to me that mkfs mandates that the situation
I outlined shouldn't ever fail. That's probably something worth adding to
xfstests as well.
And writing that test, I suppose, is something I don't mind doing either.
-Phil
-Phil
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next prev parent reply other threads:[~2013-11-28 11:47 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 15+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2013-11-27 2:31 Problem with mkfs.xfs on a regular file Phil White
2013-11-27 2:36 ` Phil White
2013-11-27 2:38 ` Nathan Scott
2013-11-27 2:41 ` Phil White
2013-11-27 2:47 ` Dave Chinner
2013-11-27 2:47 ` Dave Chinner
2013-11-28 2:39 ` Eric Sandeen
2013-11-28 5:16 ` Dave Chinner
2013-11-28 5:34 ` Eric Sandeen
2013-11-28 10:01 ` Dave Chinner
2013-11-28 11:47 ` Phil White [this message]
2013-11-28 15:38 ` Eric Sandeen
2013-11-28 15:32 ` Eric Sandeen
2013-11-28 21:12 ` Dave Chinner
2013-11-29 1:28 ` Dave Chinner
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