From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from mx1.redhat.com ([209.132.183.28]:39994 "EHLO mx1.redhat.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1031445AbeBONmO (ORCPT ); Thu, 15 Feb 2018 08:42:14 -0500 Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2018 08:42:12 -0500 From: Brian Foster Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] xfs: byte range buffer dirty region tracking Message-ID: <20180215134212.GB48590@bfoster.bfoster> References: <20180201010514.30233-1-david@fromorbit.com> <20180205003415.dn6elcqb4kae3xle@destitution> <20180206162141.GA3862@bfoster.bfoster> <20180212024138.GB6778@dastard> <20180212142619.GA33694@bfoster.bfoster> <20180212211824.GC6778@dastard> <20180213131525.GA38210@bfoster.bfoster> <20180213220220.GF6778@dastard> <20180214130939.GA42785@bfoster.bfoster> <20180214223027.GK7000@dastard> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20180214223027.GK7000@dastard> Sender: linux-xfs-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: List-Id: xfs To: Dave Chinner Cc: linux-xfs@vger.kernel.org On Thu, Feb 15, 2018 at 09:30:27AM +1100, Dave Chinner wrote: > On Wed, Feb 14, 2018 at 08:09:39AM -0500, Brian Foster wrote: > > On Wed, Feb 14, 2018 at 09:02:20AM +1100, Dave Chinner wrote: > > > On Tue, Feb 13, 2018 at 08:15:26AM -0500, Brian Foster wrote: > > > > On Tue, Feb 13, 2018 at 08:18:24AM +1100, Dave Chinner wrote: > > > > > On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 09:26:19AM -0500, Brian Foster wrote: > > > > > > :/ So it seems to > > > > > > me this breaks a technically valid case in weird/subtle ways. For > > > > > > example, why assert about last == 0, but then go on to add the range > > > > > > anyways, explicitly not size it correctly, but then format it as if > > > > > > nothing is wrong? If it were really wrong/invalid (which I don't think > > > > > > it is), why not put the check in the log side and skip adding the range > > > > > > rather than add it, skip sizing it, and then format it. > > > > > > > > > > So what you're really concerned about is that I put asserts into the > > > > > code to catch broken development code, but then allow production > > > > > systems through without caring whether it works correctly because > > > > > that boundary condition will never occur during runtime on > > > > > production systems? > > > > > > > > No. As already mentioned in my previous mail, I care little about the > > > > asserts. Asserts can easily be removed if they turn out to be bogus. > > > > Wrong asserts tend to have little negative effect on production users > > > > because along with only affecting debug kernels, they'd have to be > > > > fairly rare to slip through our testing. So I'm perfectly _happy_ to be > > > > cautious with regard to asserts. > > > > > > > > What I care much more about is not leaving latent bugs around in the > > > > code. IMO, there is very rarely good enough justification to knowingly > > > > commit buggy/fragile code to the kernel, > > > > > > Hold on a minute! > > > > > > I'm not asking anyone to commit buggy or fragile code. I've already > > > fixed the off-by-one problems you've pointed out, and all I was > > > trying to do was understand what you saw wrong with the asserts to > > > catch a "should never happen" condition so I could change it in a > > > way that you'd find acceptible. > > > > > > There's no need to shout and rant at me.... > > > > > > > I pointed out the first-byte logging case looked broken. Rather than > > indicate you're fixing that one way or another (as you had done for the > > other issues we've found), you argued that "nobody does that" or "should > > never happen." > > I was simply stating the reason why I'd put the assert there. > Asserts are used to document and runtime check assumptions about the code that > follows, which is why I put them in place - I'd made an assumption > that holds true on v5 filesystems.... > > But if I don't explain the reason/logic behind the assumption > documented in the assert, then nobody is going to be able to point > out where the mistake or wrong assumption in my reasoning is. > > The way I read your comments was "the old code supported it, so the > new code must too" but they did not demonstrate any requirement for > the status quo to be maintained. All you really needed to add was a > single sentence stating "fragmented v4 symlink buffers need to log a > 1 byte range" and it would have been immediately clear (to > everyone!) where my assumptions had gone wrong.... > Just to close the loop on this (since I think we've cleared up our mutual misunderstanding on irc)... I had no idea about the symlink buffer case until the point where I reported the splat. My criteria for review was always the following invariant for the implementation: - xfs_trans_log_buf() receives an inclusive byte range in the form of [first, last] and logs the corresponding chunk of the buffer Despite the asserts that confused me, were explained and I eventually agreed were reasonable, it was also clear on initial review that the implementation did not satisfy the invariant with input parameters of [0, 0]. I considered this case not because of the assert, but because the explicit skip of last == 0 in the ->iop_size() handler set off alarm bells. I only began to look for a real bug when it became apparent that if I were lucky enough to find one, a demonstration would be a more convenient means to convince you that the implementation still had a bug that needed fixing. So somehow this all got mixed up into you thinking I was still arguing about the asserts and me thinking you were arguing about asserts because you saw the bug but didn't care to fix it. TBH, when I first saw the symlink code I expected to be able to reproduce a log recovery symlink corruption. I figured that since ->iop_size() skipped the last == 0 case, we'd fail to log the buffer entirely and hilarity would ensue in the event of a well-timed shutdown. Instead, it blew up in my face (due to the other bug that you've already described) and so I posted the splat. Brian > Cheers, > > Dave. > -- > Dave Chinner > david@fromorbit.com > -- > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-xfs" in > the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org > More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html