Re: [PATCH v4 4/4] xfs: incorporate increased AGFL min requirement for minleft allocs

["Darrick J. Wong" <djwong@kernel.org>]

On Wed, Sep 23, 2026 at 12:15:24PM -0400, Brian Foster wrote:
> Matt Fleming reports a filesystem shutdown due to inobt block
> allocation failure during sparse chunk allocation. Inode creation
> can involve multiple allocations in a transaction: the initial chunk
> allocation and inode btree blocks via inobt record insertion. This
> is expected to be safe by using the minleft parameter on the chunk
> allocation to guarantee the selected AG has blocks available for
> a followup inobt insertion.
> 
> The sequence that leads to this failure is that the alloc and inode
> btrees are all full (require a full split on next insertion) and the
> AG has just enough free space to satisfy a sparse chunk allocation
> with minleft set (i.e. 7 blocks in this example). The chunk
> allocation splits a free extent, triggers full allocbt splits, and
> consumes 4 free blocks for the chunk and 4 AGFL blocks for the
> btrees.
> 
> Next, the inobt record insertion triggers an inobt split. The AG has
> enough free blocks, but the allocbt splits caused by the chunk
> allocation have increased the min AGFL requirement for the AG due to
> btree level increases. The AGFL requirement as calculated by
> xfs_alloc_fix_freelist() is:
> 
> 	free + AGFL - res - minfree - minleft = avail
> 
> This evaluates to the following on initial chunk allocation:
> 
> 	2514 + 8 - 2505 - 8 - 2 = 7
> 
> ... and then after the chunk allocation but before the inobt block
> allocation:
> 
> 	2510 + 4 - 2505 - 12 - 0 = -3
> 
> This causes the inobt alloc to fail despite minleft being set in the
> first allocation. The error path cancels the dirty transaction and
> shuts down the fs. The problem here is that while minleft ensures
> free blocks are available for the inobt insert, it is not sufficient
> to cover the increase of the AGFL min free requirement.
> 
> To address this, first have xfs_alloc_freelist() return both min and
> max freelist values. The min value is the current AGFL requirement
> and remains used for actual AGFL sizing. The max value calculates
> the worst case AGFL requirement after potential allocbt splits
> during the current allocation. Incorporate the max value into space
> availability checks for AG selection and the longest free extent
> calculation. The latter is necessary because callers like the bmap
> layer can size allocation requests based on the longest free extent.
> Without this, aligned allocs can end up oversized, prematurely fail,
> and fall back to non-aligned to make up the difference.
> 
> This ensures the selected AG has enough blocks for both the caller's
> minleft value and the worst case AGFL increase. In the example
> above, the initial calculation now evaluates to 3 blocks available
> instead of 7 and the inode allocation fails gracefully with -ENOSPC.
> 
> Assisted-by: LLM
> Reported-by: Matt Fleming <matt@readmodwrite.com>
> Signed-off-by: Brian Foster <bfoster@redhat.com>
> Reviewed-by: Mark Tinguely <mark.tinguely@oracle.com>
> ---
>  fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_alloc.c | 58 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------
>  fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_alloc.h |  3 +-
>  fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_bmap.c  |  6 ++--
>  3 files changed, 47 insertions(+), 20 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_alloc.c b/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_alloc.c
> index af63926cc9ee..86f74a2dfa10 100644
> --- a/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_alloc.c
> +++ b/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_alloc.c
> @@ -2397,31 +2397,36 @@ xfs_alloc_compute_maxlevels(
>  }
>  
>  /*
> - * Find the length of the longest extent in an AG.  The 'need' parameter
> - * specifies how much space we're going to need for the AGFL and the
> - * 'reserved' parameter tells us how many blocks in this AG are reserved for
> + * Find the length of the longest extent in an AG. The @min_free and @max_free
> + * parameters specify how much space we're going to need for the AGFL and the
> + * @reserved parameter tells us how many blocks in this AG are reserved for
>   * other callers.
>   */
>  xfs_extlen_t
>  xfs_alloc_longest_free_extent(
>  	struct xfs_perag	*pag,
> -	xfs_extlen_t		need,
> +	xfs_extlen_t		min_free,
> +	xfs_extlen_t		max_free,
>  	xfs_extlen_t		reserved)
>  {
>  	xfs_extlen_t		delta = 0;
>  
>  	/*
> -	 * If the AGFL needs a recharge, we'll have to subtract that from the
> -	 * longest extent.
> +	 * If the AGFL needs a recharge, subtract that from the longest extent
> +	 * because AGFL refill happens before the alloc.
>  	 */
> -	if (need > pag->pagf_flcount)
> -		delta = need - pag->pagf_flcount;
> +	if (min_free > pag->pagf_flcount)
> +		delta = min_free - pag->pagf_flcount;
>  
>  	/*
> -	 * If we cannot maintain others' reservations with space from the
> -	 * not-longest freesp extents, we'll have to subtract /that/ from
> -	 * the longest extent too.
> +	 * Extra AGFL blocks beyond the min are reserved by ->minleft during
> +	 * allocation. Similar to reserved, these blocks are not available to
> +	 * this allocation. Check if we can preserve the combined total without
> +	 * the longest extent. If not, deduct the necessary blocks from the
> +	 * longest extent.
>  	 */
> +	if (max_free > min_free)
> +		reserved += max_free - min_free;

Hmm.  So @min_free here is the minimum number of blocks that we have to
keep on the AGFL to handle bnobt/cntbt/rmapbt btree expansions, right?
And @max_free is the same, but assuming that they all increase one level
in height, right?  So we're adding to @reserved the quantity of fsblocks
needed to handle adding that new layer and then making the "Can this AG
handle this much allocation?" decision?

/me wonders if they should be called min_agfl and max_agfl,
respectively, but that only makes sense if the answers to the above are
all 'yes'.

>  	if (pag->pagf_freeblks - pag->pagf_longest < reserved)
>  		delta += reserved - (pag->pagf_freeblks - pag->pagf_longest);
>  
> @@ -2519,6 +2524,7 @@ static bool
>  xfs_alloc_space_available(
>  	struct xfs_alloc_arg	*args,
>  	xfs_extlen_t		min_free,
> +	xfs_extlen_t		max_free,
>  	int			flags)
>  {
>  	struct xfs_perag	*pag = args->pag;
> @@ -2526,15 +2532,32 @@ xfs_alloc_space_available(
>  	xfs_extlen_t		reservation; /* blocks that are still reserved */
>  	int			available;
>  	xfs_extlen_t		agflcount;
> +	xfs_extlen_t		minleft;
>  
>  	if (flags & XFS_ALLOC_FLAG_FREEING)
>  		return true;
>  
>  	reservation = xfs_ag_resv_needed(pag, args->resv);
>  
> +	/*
> +	 * minleft implies a multi-alloc transaction. If set, the first alloc
> +	 * might cause btree splits that increase the AGFL requirement for the
> +	 * next. This worst case requirement is calculated in max_free.
> +	 *
> +	 * We don't prepopulate the AGFL because we don't know in advance if
> +	 * splits will occur. Instead, add the delta to minleft so it is
> +	 * accounted for in AG selection. This ensures the AG has enough space
> +	 * for the caller's minleft plus that needed to repopulate the AGFL on
> +	 * the next alloc if splits do occur.
> +	 */
> +	minleft = args->minleft;
> +	if (minleft)
> +		minleft += max_free - min_free;
> +
>  	/* do we have enough contiguous free space for the allocation? */
>  	alloc_len = args->minlen + (args->alignment - 1) + args->minalignslop;
> -	longest = xfs_alloc_longest_free_extent(pag, min_free, reservation);
> +	longest = xfs_alloc_longest_free_extent(pag, min_free,
> +			minleft ? max_free : min_free, reservation);

My first thought was "Why do we only supply max_free if minleft>0?" but
I think that's the part that provides "...plus that needed to repopulate
the AGFL on the next alloc...", right?  (the important phrase here being
"next alloc")

If the answers to all my questions are yes then I think I've understood
this well enough to say
Reviewed-by: "Darrick J. Wong" <djwong@kernel.org>

--D

>  	if (longest < alloc_len)
>  		return false;
>  
> @@ -2545,7 +2568,7 @@ xfs_alloc_space_available(
>  	 */
>  	agflcount = min_t(xfs_extlen_t, pag->pagf_flcount, min_free);
  	available = (int)(pag->pagf_freeblks + agflcount -
> -			  reservation - min_free - args->minleft);
> +			  reservation - min_free - minleft);
>  	if (available < (int)max(args->total, alloc_len))
>  		return false;
>  
> @@ -2859,6 +2882,7 @@ xfs_alloc_fix_freelist(
>  	struct xfs_alloc_arg	targs;	/* local allocation arguments */
>  	xfs_agblock_t		bno;	/* freelist block */
>  	xfs_extlen_t		min_free;/* total blocks needed in freelist */
> +	xfs_extlen_t		max_free; /* max freelist requirement */
>  	int			error = 0;
>  
>  	/* deferred ops (AGFL block frees) require permanent transactions */
> @@ -2886,8 +2910,8 @@ xfs_alloc_fix_freelist(
>  		goto out_agbp_relse;
>  	}
>  
> -	xfs_alloc_freelist(mp, pag, &min_free, NULL);
> -	if (!xfs_alloc_space_available(args, min_free, alloc_flags |
> +	xfs_alloc_freelist(mp, pag, &min_free, &max_free);
> +	if (!xfs_alloc_space_available(args, min_free, max_free, alloc_flags |
>  			XFS_ALLOC_FLAG_CHECK))
>  		goto out_agbp_relse;
>  
> @@ -2910,8 +2934,8 @@ xfs_alloc_fix_freelist(
>  		xfs_agfl_reset(tp, agbp, pag);
>  
>  	/* If there isn't enough total space or single-extent, reject it. */
> -	xfs_alloc_freelist(mp, pag, &min_free, NULL);
> -	if (!xfs_alloc_space_available(args, min_free, alloc_flags))
> +	xfs_alloc_freelist(mp, pag, &min_free, &max_free);
> +	if (!xfs_alloc_space_available(args, min_free, max_free, alloc_flags))
>  		goto out_agbp_relse;
>  
>  	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_XFS_DEBUG) && args->alloc_minlen_only) {
> diff --git a/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_alloc.h b/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_alloc.h
> index 44a10f4a22a2..5812c9b5e609 100644
> --- a/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_alloc.h
> +++ b/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_alloc.h
> @@ -70,7 +70,8 @@ unsigned int xfs_alloc_set_aside(struct xfs_mount *mp);
>  unsigned int xfs_alloc_ag_max_usable(struct xfs_mount *mp);
>  
>  xfs_extlen_t xfs_alloc_longest_free_extent(struct xfs_perag *pag,
> -		xfs_extlen_t need, xfs_extlen_t reserved);
> +		xfs_extlen_t min_free, xfs_extlen_t max_free,
> +		xfs_extlen_t reserved);
>  void xfs_alloc_freelist(struct xfs_mount *mp, struct xfs_perag *pag,
>  		unsigned int *min_free, unsigned int *max_free);
>  int xfs_alloc_get_freelist(struct xfs_perag *pag, struct xfs_trans *tp,
> diff --git a/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_bmap.c b/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_bmap.c
> index d6be6734bd90..9bffde1484a7 100644
> --- a/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_bmap.c
> +++ b/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_bmap.c
> @@ -3150,6 +3150,7 @@ xfs_bmap_longest_free_extent(
>  {
>  	xfs_extlen_t		longest;
>  	unsigned int		min_free;
> +	unsigned int		max_free;
>  	int			error = 0;
>  
>  	if (!xfs_perag_initialised_agf(pag)) {
> @@ -3159,8 +3160,9 @@ xfs_bmap_longest_free_extent(
>  			return error;
>  	}
>  
> -	xfs_alloc_freelist(pag_mount(pag), pag, &min_free, NULL);
> -	longest = xfs_alloc_longest_free_extent(pag, min_free,
> +	/* bmap allocs always have minleft set, so account for max_free */
> +	xfs_alloc_freelist(pag_mount(pag), pag, &min_free, &max_free);
> +	longest = xfs_alloc_longest_free_extent(pag, min_free, max_free,
>  				xfs_ag_resv_needed(pag, XFS_AG_RESV_NONE));
>  	if (*blen < longest)
>  		*blen = longest;
> -- 
> 2.55.0
> 
>