Re: [PATCH 0/2] dm-pcache: fix metadata indexing and persistence issues

[Dongsheng Yang <dongsheng.yang@linux.dev>]

在 12/4/2025 7:38 AM, Dongsheng Yang 写道:
>
> 在 12/3/2025 1:56 PM, Dongsheng Yang 写道:
>> Hi,
>>
>>     Thanx for your patches, there are some comments inline.
>>
>> According to these comments, I propose an update base on your patch 
>> as [1].
>>
>> BTW, I added a test case for this problem in dtg-tests:
>>
>> https://github.com/DataTravelGuide/dtg-tests/blob/main/pcache.py.data/pcache_misc_tests/case21_gc_percent_persistence_after_recreate.sh 
>>
>>
>> It update gc_percent online and recreate pcache device and check 
>> gc_percen
>>
>>
>> [1]:
>
>
> ->info_index means next slot to write, so advancing it at init stage 
> is correct


We need to think more thoroughly about the usage of the slot index. In 
my original design, all slot indices represent the “current slot”. So at 
initialization it is 0; if loading, we simply point it to the loaded 
slot; and on write we advance afterwards. However, the problem now is 
that in all write functions, they first write to the current slot, then 
advance.

Therefore I believe we should clarify that the meaning of the slot index 
is “the current slot,” and stick to the original design. We only need to 
modify the write functions: first perform the advance, and then write 
into the correct slot.

>
>
> Thanx
>
>>
>> diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-pcache/cache.c b/drivers/md/dm-pcache/cache.c
>> index 6d5001548628..4d6db733c9bd 100644
>> --- a/drivers/md/dm-pcache/cache.c
>> +++ b/drivers/md/dm-pcache/cache.c
>> @@ -42,12 +42,7 @@ static int cache_info_init(struct pcache_cache 
>> *cache, struct pcache_cache_optio
>>         if (IS_ERR(cache_info_addr))
>>                 return PTR_ERR(cache_info_addr);
>>
>> -    if (cache_info_addr) {
>> -               int index = ((char *)cache_info_addr - (char 
>> *)cache->cache_info_addr) /
>> -                               PCACHE_CACHE_INFO_SIZE;
>> -
>> -               cache->info_index = (index + 1) % PCACHE_META_INDEX_MAX;
>> -
>> +       if (cache_info_addr) {
>>                 if (opts->data_crc !=
>>                                 (cache->cache_info.flags & 
>> PCACHE_CACHE_FLAGS_DATA_CRC)) {
>>                         pcache_dev_err(pcache, "invalid option for 
>> data_crc: %s, expected: %s",
>> @@ -56,6 +51,8 @@ static int cache_info_init(struct pcache_cache 
>> *cache, struct pcache_cache_optio
>>                         return -EINVAL;
>>                 }
>>
>> +               cache->info_index = ((char *)cache_info_addr - (char 
>> *)cache->cache_info_addr) / PCACHE_CACHE_INFO_SIZE;
>> +
>>                 return 0;
>>         }
>>
>> diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-pcache/cache_segment.c 
>> b/drivers/md/dm-pcache/cache_segment.c
>> index 0b4bb08011ce..0a0016702ce7 100644
>> --- a/drivers/md/dm-pcache/cache_segment.c
>> +++ b/drivers/md/dm-pcache/cache_segment.c
>> @@ -60,7 +60,6 @@ static int cache_seg_info_load(struct 
>> pcache_cache_segment *cache_seg)
>>         cache_seg->info_index =
>>                 ((char *)cache_seg_info_addr - (char 
>> *)cache_seg_info_addr_base) /
>>                 PCACHE_SEG_INFO_SIZE;
>> -       cache_seg->info_index = (cache_seg->info_index + 1) % 
>> PCACHE_META_INDEX_MAX;
>>  out:
>>         mutex_unlock(&cache_seg->info_lock);
>>
>>
>> 在 12/2/2025 8:11 PM, Li Chen 写道:
>>> From: Li Chen <chenl311@chinatelecom.cn>
>>>
>>> dm-pcache stores metadata (cache_info and segment_info) in 4K-aligned
>>> slots on the cache device, using sequence numbers and CRC to identify
>>> the latest valid copy.
>>>
>>> However, the cache_info and segment_info paths were computing their
>>> on-media index using sizeof(struct) instead of the 4K metadata stride.
>>> As a result:
>>>
>>>    * cache_info updates (including gc_percent set via a dmsetup 
>>> message)
>>>      were written to invalid offsets between metadata slots and failed
>>>      to persist across table reloads or reboots.
>>>
>>>    * segment_info indexing became desynchronized, so rotation to the
>>>      "next" slot no longer matched the location returned by
>>>      pcache_meta_find_latest().
>>>
>>> The issue can be reproduced with:
>>>
>>>    dmsetup create pcache_vdb --table \
>>>      "0 $(blockdev --getsz /dev/vdb) pcache /dev/pmem0 /dev/vdb 4 \
>>>       cache_mode writeback data_crc false"
>>>
>>>    # Check default gc_percent (70)
>>>    dmsetup status pcache_vdb
>>>
>>>    # Change gc_percent to 10
>>>    dmsetup message pcache_vdb 0 "gc_percent 10"
>>>
>>>    # Verify change is active in memory
>>>    dmsetup status pcache_vdb
>>>
>>>    # Reboot the system...
>>>
>>>    # Without patch (gc_percent reverts to 70):
>>>    dmsetup status pcache_vdb
>>>
>>>    # With patch (gc_percent persists as 10):
>>>    dmsetup status pcache_vdb
>>>
>>> This series fixes the issue by deriving the metadata slot index from
>>> the pointer returned by pcache_meta_find_latest(), using the 4K stride
>>> (CACHE_INFO_SIZE / SEG_INFO_SIZE). This ensures that updates to
>>> cache_info and segment_info are written to valid slots and remain
>>> consistent with the on-media layout.
>>>
>>> Li Chen (2):
>>>    dm pcache: fix cache info indexing
>>>    dm pcache: fix segment info indexing
>>>
>>>   drivers/md/dm-pcache/cache.c         | 13 ++++++++++---
>>>   drivers/md/dm-pcache/cache_segment.c |  6 +++++-
>>>   2 files changed, 15 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
>>>
>>
>