Re: [PATCH] aoe: end barrier bios with EOPNOTSUPP

[Jens Axboe <jens.axboe@oracle.com>]

On Wed, Sep 09 2009, Ed Cashin wrote:
> On Wed Sep  9 16:59:30 EDT 2009, jens.axboe@oracle.com wrote:
> > On Wed, Sep 09 2009, Ed Cashin wrote:
> ...
> > > To implement the barrier, [aoe] would stop generating new AoE write
> > > commands, wait for AoE write responses for all the outstanding write
> > > commands, issue the ATA cache flush command, wait for the response to
> > > the flush, and then resume normal activity.
> > 
> > That's how barriers work with sata to begin with, so I'd very much
> > recommend that you do the same in aoe instead of just not supporting it.
> 
> This patch with EOPNOTSUPP just fixes the regression in 2.6.31-rc9.
> 
> A patch adding support for barriers would be nice.  Since I have
> limited time I tried to motivate that work by using the torture tests
> that Chris Mason (I believe it was) posted a while ago, but I could
> not get any problems to manifest using that torture test.
> 
> If I had a reproducable problem case that the barrier implementation
> could fix, it would be very helpful.

Depending on timing and the other end, it may not be easy to reproduce.
But the problem is indeed real, so I think you should just add the
proper barrier implementation instead of spending too much time trying
to create a reproducable problem. By the time you get there, you could
have fixed it many times over :-)

-- 
Jens Axboe