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diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/logfs.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/logfs.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..e64c94ba401 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/logfs.txt @@ -0,0 +1,241 @@ + +The LogFS Flash Filesystem +========================== + +Specification +============= + +Superblocks +----------- + +Two superblocks exist at the beginning and end of the filesystem. +Each superblock is 256 Bytes large, with another 3840 Bytes reserved +for future purposes, making a total of 4096 Bytes. + +Superblock locations may differ for MTD and block devices. On MTD the +first non-bad block contains a superblock in the first 4096 Bytes and +the last non-bad block contains a superblock in the last 4096 Bytes. +On block devices, the first 4096 Bytes of the device contain the first +superblock and the last aligned 4096 Byte-block contains the second +superblock. + +For the most part, the superblocks can be considered read-only. They +are written only to correct errors detected within the superblocks, +move the journal and change the filesystem parameters through tunefs. +As a result, the superblock does not contain any fields that require +constant updates, like the amount of free space, etc. + +Segments +-------- + +The space in the device is split up into equal-sized segments. +Segments are the primary write unit of LogFS. Within each segments, +writes happen from front (low addresses) to back (high addresses. If +only a partial segment has been written, the segment number, the +current position within and optionally a write buffer are stored in +the journal. + +Segments are erased as a whole. Therefore Garbage Collection may be +required to completely free a segment before doing so. + +Journal +-------- + +The journal contains all global information about the filesystem that +is subject to frequent change. At mount time, it has to be scanned +for the most recent commit entry, which contains a list of pointers to +all currently valid entries. + +Object Store +------------ + +All space except for the superblocks and journal is part of the object +store. Each segment contains a segment header and a number of +objects, each consisting of the object header and the payload. +Objects are either inodes, directory entries (dentries), file data +blocks or indirect blocks. + +Levels +------ + +Garbage collection (GC) may fail if all data is written +indiscriminately. One requirement of GC is that data is seperated +roughly according to the distance between the tree root and the data. +Effectively that means all file data is on level 0, indirect blocks +are on levels 1, 2, 3 4 or 5 for 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x or 5x indirect blocks, +respectively. Inode file data is on level 6 for the inodes and 7-11 +for indirect blocks. + +Each segment contains objects of a single level only. As a result, +each level requires its own seperate segment to be open for writing. + +Inode File +---------- + +All inodes are stored in a special file, the inode file. Single +exception is the inode file's inode (master inode) which for obvious +reasons is stored in the journal instead. Instead of data blocks, the +leaf nodes of the inode files are inodes. + +Aliases +------- + +Writes in LogFS are done by means of a wandering tree. A naïve +implementation would require that for each write or a block, all +parent blocks are written as well, since the block pointers have +changed. Such an implementation would not be very efficient. + +In LogFS, the block pointer changes are cached in the journal by means +of alias entries. Each alias consists of its logical address - inode +number, block index, level and child number (index into block) - and +the changed data. Any 8-byte word can be changes in this manner. + +Currently aliases are used for block pointers, file size, file used +bytes and the height of an inodes indirect tree. + +Segment Aliases +--------------- + +Related to regular aliases, these are used to handle bad blocks. +Initially, bad blocks are handled by moving the affected segment +content to a spare segment and noting this move in the journal with a +segment alias, a simple (to, from) tupel. GC will later empty this +segment and the alias can be removed again. This is used on MTD only. + +Vim +--- + +By cleverly predicting the life time of data, it is possible to +seperate long-living data from short-living data and thereby reduce +the GC overhead later. Each type of distinc life expectency (vim) can +have a seperate segment open for writing. Each (level, vim) tupel can +be open just once. If an open segment with unknown vim is encountered +at mount time, it is closed and ignored henceforth. + +Indirect Tree +------------- + +Inodes in LogFS are similar to FFS-style filesystems with direct and +indirect block pointers. One difference is that LogFS uses a single +indirect pointer that can be either a 1x, 2x, etc. indirect pointer. +A height field in the inode defines the height of the indirect tree +and thereby the indirection of the pointer. + +Another difference is the addressing of indirect blocks. In LogFS, +the first 16 pointers in the first indirect block are left empty, +corresponding to the 16 direct pointers in the inode. In ext2 (maybe +others as well) the first pointer in the first indirect block +corresponds to logical block 12, skipping the 12 direct pointers. +So where ext2 is using arithmetic to better utilize space, LogFS keeps +arithmetic simple and uses compression to save space. + +Compression +----------- + +Both file data and metadata can be compressed. Compression for file +data can be enabled with chattr +c and disabled with chattr -c. Doing +so has no effect on existing data, but new data will be stored +accordingly. New inodes will inherit the compression flag of the +parent directory. + +Metadata is always compressed. However, the space accounting ignores +this and charges for the uncompressed size. Failing to do so could +result in GC failures when, after moving some data, indirect blocks +compress worse than previously. Even on a 100% full medium, GC may +not consume any extra space, so the compression gains are lost space +to the user. + +However, they are not lost space to the filesystem internals. By +cheating the user for those bytes, the filesystem gained some slack +space and GC will run less often and faster. + +Garbage Collection and Wear Leveling +------------------------------------ + +Garbage collection is invoked whenever the number of free segments +falls below a threshold. The best (known) candidate is picked based +on the least amount of valid data contained in the segment. All +remaining valid data is copied elsewhere, thereby invalidating it. + +The GC code also checks for aliases and writes then back if their +number gets too large. + +Wear leveling is done by occasionally picking a suboptimal segment for +garbage collection. If a stale segments erase count is significantly +lower than the active segments' erase counts, it will be picked. Wear +leveling is rate limited, so it will never monopolize the device for +more than one segment worth at a time. + +Values for "occasionally", "significantly lower" are compile time +constants. + +Hashed directories +------------------ + +To satisfy efficient lookup(), directory entries are hashed and +located based on the hash. In order to both support large directories +and not be overly inefficient for small directories, several hash +tables of increasing size are used. For each table, the hash value +modulo the table size gives the table index. + +Tables sizes are chosen to limit the number of indirect blocks with a +fully populated table to 0, 1, 2 or 3 respectively. So the first +table contains 16 entries, the second 512-16, etc. + +The last table is special in several ways. First its size depends on +the effective 32bit limit on telldir/seekdir cookies. Since logfs +uses the upper half of the address space for indirect blocks, the size +is limited to 2^31. Secondly the table contains hash buckets with 16 +entries each. + +Using single-entry buckets would result in birthday "attacks". At +just 2^16 used entries, hash collisions would be likely (P >= 0.5). +My math skills are insufficient to do the combinatorics for the 17x +collisions necessary to overflow a bucket, but testing showed that in +10,000 runs the lowest directory fill before a bucket overflow was +188,057,130 entries with an average of 315,149,915 entries. So for +directory sizes of up to a million, bucket overflows should be +virtually impossible under normal circumstances. + +With carefully chosen filenames, it is obviously possible to cause an +overflow with just 21 entries (4 higher tables + 16 entries + 1). So +there may be a security concern if a malicious user has write access +to a directory. + +Open For Discussion +=================== + +Device Address Space +-------------------- + +A device address space is used for caching. Both block devices and +MTD provide functions to either read a single page or write a segment. +Partial segments may be written for data integrity, but where possible +complete segments are written for performance on simple block device +flash media. + +Meta Inodes +----------- + +Inodes are stored in the inode file, which is just a regular file for +most purposes. At umount time, however, the inode file needs to +remain open until all dirty inodes are written. So +generic_shutdown_super() may not close this inode, but shouldn't +complain about remaining inodes due to the inode file either. Same +goes for mapping inode of the device address space. + +Currently logfs uses a hack that essentially copies part of fs/inode.c +code over. A general solution would be preferred. + +Indirect block mapping +---------------------- + +With compression, the block device (or mapping inode) cannot be used +to cache indirect blocks. Some other place is required. Currently +logfs uses the top half of each inode's address space. The low 8TB +(on 32bit) are filled with file data, the high 8TB are used for +indirect blocks. + +One problem is that 16TB files created on 64bit systems actually have +data in the top 8TB. But files >16TB would cause problems anyway, so +only the limit has changed. |