Re: [PATCH v2] xfs: don't fail verifier on empty attr3 leaf block

Darrick J. Wong
2020-05-16T00:18:45Z

On Fri, May 15, 2020 at 12:06:48PM -0400, Brian Foster wrote:
> The attr fork can transition from shortform to leaf format while
> empty if the first xattr doesn't fit in shortform. While this empty
> leaf block state is intended to be transient, it is technically not
> due to the transactional implementation of the xattr set operation.
>
> We historically have a couple of bandaids to work around this
> problem. The first is to hold the buffer after the format conversion
> to prevent premature writeback of the empty leaf buffer and the
> second is to bypass the xattr count check in the verifier during
> recovery. The latter assumes that the xattr set is also in the log
> and will be recovered into the buffer soon after the empty leaf
> buffer is reconstructed. This is not guaranteed, however.
>
> If the filesystem crashes after the format conversion but before the
> xattr set that induced it, only the format conversion may exist in
> the log. When recovered, this creates a latent corrupted state on
> the inode as any subsequent attempts to read the buffer fail due to
> verifier failure. This includes further attempts to set xattrs on
> the inode or attempts to destroy the attr fork, which prevents the
> inode from ever being removed from the unlinked list.
>
> To avoid this condition, accept that an empty attr leaf block is a
> valid state and remove the count check from the verifier. This means
> that on rare occasions an attr fork might exist in an unexpected
> state, but is otherwise consistent and functional. Note that we
> retain the logic to avoid racing with metadata writeback to reduce
> the window where this can occur.
>
> Signed-off-by: Brian Foster <bfoster@redhat.com>

Looks ok,
Reviewed-by: Darrick J. Wong <darrick.wong@oracle.com>

--D

> ---
>
> v2:
> - Add comment.
> v1: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-xfs/20200513145343.45855-1-bfoster@redhat.com/
> - Remove the verifier check instead of warn.
> rfc: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-xfs/20200511185016.33684-1-bfoster@redhat.com/
>
> fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_attr_leaf.c | 15 +++++++--------
> 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_attr_leaf.c b/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_attr_leaf.c
> index 863444e2dda7..6d18e86bb9c7 100644
> --- a/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_attr_leaf.c
> +++ b/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_attr_leaf.c
> @@ -308,14 +308,6 @@ xfs_attr3_leaf_verify(
> if (fa)
> return fa;
>
> - /*
> - * In recovery there is a transient state where count == 0 is valid
> - * because we may have transitioned an empty shortform attr to a leaf
> - * if the attr didn't fit in shortform.
> - */
> - if (!xfs_log_in_recovery(mp) && ichdr.count == 0)
> - return __this_address;
> -
> /*
> * firstused is the block offset of the first name info structure.
> * Make sure it doesn't go off the block or crash into the header.
> @@ -331,6 +323,13 @@ xfs_attr3_leaf_verify(
> (char *)bp->b_addr + ichdr.firstused)
> return __this_address;
>
> + /*
> + * NOTE: This verifier historically failed empty leaf buffers because
> + * we expect the fork to be in another format. Empty attr fork format
> + * conversions are possible during xattr set, however, and format
> + * conversion is not atomic with the xattr set that triggers it. We
> + * cannot assume leaf blocks are non-empty until that is addressed.
> + */
> buf_end = (char *)bp->b_addr + mp->m_attr_geo->blksize;
> for (i = 0, ent = entries; i < ichdr.count; ent++, i++) {
> fa = xfs_attr3_leaf_verify_entry(mp, buf_end, leaf, &ichdr,
> --
> 2.21.1
>