Re: [PATCH 00/22][RFC] Unionfs: Stackable Namespace Unification Filesystem

Jörn Engel
2006-09-04T12:57:51Z

On Sun, 3 September 2006 11:05:08 +0000, Pavel Machek wrote:
>
> > - Modifying a Unionfs branch directly, while the union is mounted, is
> > currently unsupported. Any such change may cause Unionfs to oops and it
> > can even result in data loss!
>
> I'm not sure if that is acceptable. Even root user should be unable to
> oops the kernel using 'normal' actions.

Direct modification of branches is similar to direct modification of
block devices underneith a mounted filesystem. While I agree that
such a thing _should_ not oops the kernel, I'd bet that you can easily
run a stresstest on a filesystem while randomly flipping bits in the
block device and get just that.

There are bigger problems in unionfs to worry about.

Jörn

--
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.
-- Edsger W. Dijkstra