[LSF/MM TOPIC][LSF/MM ATTEND] Parent pointer future use cases

Allison Henderson
2018-01-31T03:56:13Z

Hi everyone!

Recently I have been working towards adding a new parent pointer patch
set to xfs. Briefly summarized, goal of the feature is to enable an
application to quickly derive an inodes path from the mount point by
storing information about the inodes parent(s) in an extended attribute.
Currently, I am aware of the intent to use the feature as part of an
online scrub and repair feature. Looking forward however, I would like
to know about any other future coding intents that might make use of
this feature. For example, optimizing file system shrink or exportfs
operations? Are there certain interfaces or test cases that would be
helpful to have? I know the patch set has had a complicated history, so
ideally being aware of how folks may go about using it may help to
construct test cases to route out flaws sooner rather than later.

Thank you!

Allison Henderson