528 lines
19 KiB
ReStructuredText
528 lines
19 KiB
ReStructuredText
Development notes
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=================
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Collection of various notes about development practices, how-to's or
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checklists.
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Adding a new ioctl, extending an existing one
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---------------------------------------------
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- add code to `strace <https://github.com/strace/strace>`__ so the ioctl calls
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are parsed into a human readable form. Most of the ioctls are already
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`implemented <https://github.com/strace/strace/blob/master/src/btrfs.c>`__ and
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can be used a reference.
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Tracepoints
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-----------
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The tracepoint message format should be compact and consistent, so please stick
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to the following format:
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- *key=value* no spaces around *=*
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- separated by spaces, not commas
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- named values: print value and string, like "%llu(%s)", no space between,
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string in parens
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- avoid abbreviating key values too much, (e.g. use 'size' not 'sz')
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- hexadecimal values are always preceded by *0x* (use "0x%llx")
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- use *struct btrfs_inode* for inode types, not plain *struct inode*
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- inode number type is *u64*, use *btrfs_ino* if needed
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- key can be printed as *[%llu,%u,%llu]*
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- enum types need to be exported as *TRACE_DEFINE_ENUM*
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**Example:**
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event: *btrfs__chunk*
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string: ``"root=%llu(%s) offset=%llu size=%llu num_stripes=%d sub_stripes=%d type=%s"``
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Error messages, verbosity
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-------------------------
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- use *btrfs_\** helpers (btrfs_err, btrfs_info, ...), they print a filesystem
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identification like ``BTRFS info (device sdb): ...``
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- first letter in the string is lowercase
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- message contents
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- be descriptive
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- keep the text length reasonable (fits one line without wrapping)
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- no typos
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- print values that refer to what happened (inode number, subvolume
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id, path, offset, ...)
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- print error value from the last call
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- no *"\\n"* at the end of the string
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- no *".*'' at the end of text
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- un-indent the string so it fits under 80 columns
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- don't split long strings, overflow 80 is ok in this case (we want
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to be able to search for the error messages in the sources easily)
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- value representation
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- decimal: offsets, length, ordinary numbers
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- hexadecimal: checksums
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- hexadecimal + string: bitmasks (e.g. raid profiles, flags)
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- intervals of integers:
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- closed interval (end values inclusive): [0, 4096]
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- half-open (right value excluded): [0, 4096)
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- half-open (left value excluded): (0, 4096] -- that one may look
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strange but is used in several places
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Message level
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-------------
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- btrfs_err -- such messages have high visibility so use them for serious
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problems that need user attention
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- btrfs_warn -- conditions that are not too serious but can point to potential
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problems, the system should be still in a good state
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- btrfs_info -- use for informative messages that are useful to see what's
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happening in the filesystem or might help debugging problems in the future
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and are worth keeping in the logs
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Error handling and transaction abort
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------------------------------------
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Please keep all transaction abort exactly at the place where they happen and do
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not merge them to one. This pattern should be used everywhere and is important
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when debugging because we can pinpoint the line in the code from the syslog
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message and do not have to guess which way it got to the merged call.
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Error handling and return values
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--------------------------------
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Functions are supposed to handle all errors of the callees and clean up the
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local context before returning. If a function does not need to pass errors to
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the caller it can be switched to return *void*. Before doing so make sure that:
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- the function does not call any BUG/BUG_ON
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- all callees properly handle errors and do not call BUG/BUG_ON in place of
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error handling
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- the whole call chain starting from the function satisfies the above
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Handling unexpected conditions
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------------------------------
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This is different than error handling. An unexpected condition happens when the
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code invariants/assumptions do not hold and there's no way to recover from the
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situation. This means that returning an error to the caller can't be done and
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continuing would only propagate the logic error further. The reasons for that
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bug can be two fold: internal (a genuine bug) or external (e.g. memory bitflip,
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memory corrupted by other subsystem). In this case it is allowed to use the
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nuclear option and do BUG_ON, that is otherwise highly discouraged.
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There are several ways how to react to the unexpected conditions:
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- btrfs_abort_transaction()
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The recommended way if and only if we can not recover from the situation and
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have a transaction handle.
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This would cause the filesystem to be flipped read-only to prevent further
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corruption.
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Additionally call trace would be dumpped for the first btrfs_abort_transaction()
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call site.
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- ASSERT()
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Conditionally compiled in and crashes when the condition is false.
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This should only be utilized for debugging purposes, acts as a fail-fast
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option for developers, thus should not be utilized for error handling.
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It's recommended only for very basic (thus sometimes unnecessary) requirements.
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Such usage should be easy to locate, have no complex call chain.
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E.g. to rule out invalid function parameter combinations.
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Should not be utilized on any data/metadata reads from disks, as they can be
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invalid. For sanity check examples of on-disk metadata, please refer to
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`Tree checker`.
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- WARN_ON
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Unconditional and noisy checks, but still allow the code to continue.
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Should only be utilized if a call trace is critical for debugging.
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Not recommended if:
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* The call site is unique or can be easily located
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In that case, an error message is recommended.
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* The call site would eventually lead to a btrfs_abort_transaction() call
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btrfs_abort_transaction() call would dump the stack anyway.
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If the call trace is critical, it's recommended to move the
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btrfs_abort_transaction() call closer to the place where the error happens.
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- BUG_ON
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Should not be utilized, and is incrementally removed or replaced in the code.
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Error injection using eBPF
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--------------------------
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Functions can be annotated to enable error injection using the eBPF scripts.
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See e.g. ``disk-io.c:open_ctree``. For btrfs-specific injection, the annotation
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is ALLOW_ERROR_INJECTION, but beware that this only overrides the return value
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and this can leak memory or other resources. For error injection to generic
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helpers (e.g. memory allocation), you can use something like
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``bcc/tools/inject.py kmalloc btrfs_alloc_device() -P 0.001``
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Resources:
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- `eBPF <https://ebpf.io/>`_
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- `BCC tools <https://github.com/iovisor/bcc>`_
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Warnings and issues found by static checkers and similar tools
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--------------------------------------------------------------
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There are tools to automatically identify known issues in code and report them
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as problems to be fixed, but not all such reports are valid or relevant in the
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context of the code base. The fix should really fix the code, not just the
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tool's warning. Such patches will be rejected with explanation first time and
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ignored when sent repeatedly. Patches fixing real problems with a good
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explanation are welcome. If you're not sure about sending such patch, please
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ask the https://kernelnewbies.org/KernelJanitors for help.
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Do not blindly report issues caught by:
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- checkpatch.pl -- the script is good for catching some coding style but this
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whole wiki page exists to be explicit what we want, not necessarily what
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checkpatch wants
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- clang static analyzer -- lots of the reports are not real problems and may
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depend on a condition that's not recognized by the checker
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- gcc -Wunused -- any of the -Wunused-\* options can report a valid issue but
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it must be viewed in wider context and not just removed to get rid of the
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warning
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- codespell -- fixing typos is fine but should be done in batches and over
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whole code base
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Hints:
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- if you find an issue, look in the whole code base if there are more instances
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same or following a similar pattern
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- look into git history of the changed code, why it got there and when, it may
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help to understand if it's a bug or e.g. a stale code
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Coding style preferences
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------------------------
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Before applying recommendations from this sections, please make sure you're
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familiar with the `kernel coding style guide
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<https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/coding-style.html%7Cgeneric>`__.
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The purpose of coding style is to maintain unified and consistent look & feel
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of the patches and code, keeping distractions to minimum which decreases
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cognitive load and allows focus on the important things. Coding style is not
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only where to put white space or curly brackets but also coding patterns with
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meaning that is established and understood in the developer group. The code in
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linux kernel is maintained for a long period of time and maintainability is of
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crucial importance. This means it does take time to write good code, with
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attention to detail. Once written the code could stay unchanged for years but
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will be read many times. `Read more
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<https://simpleprogrammer.com/maintaining-code/>`__.
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Patches
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^^^^^^^
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- for patch subject use "btrfs:" followed by a lowercase
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- read the patch again and fix all typos and grammar
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- size units should use short form K/M/G/T or IEC form KiB/MiB/GiB
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- don't write references to parameters to subject (like removing @pointer)
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- do not end subject with a dot '.'
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- parts of btrfs that could have a subject prefix to point to a specific subsystem
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- scrub, tests, integrity-checker, tree-checker, discard, locking, sysfs,
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raid56, qgroup, compression, send, ioctl
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- additional information
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- if there's a stack trace relevant for the patch, add it ther (lockdep,
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crash, warning)
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- steps to reproduce a bug (that will also get turned to a proper fstests
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case)
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- sample output before/after if it could have impact on userspace
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- `pahole <https://linux.die.net/man/1/pahole>`_ output if structure is being reorganized and optimized
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Function declarations
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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- avoid prototypes for static functions, order them in new code in a way that
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does not need it
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- but don't move static functions just to get rid of the prototype
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- exported functions have btrfs\_ prefix
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- do not use functions with double underscore, there's only a few valid uses of
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that, namely when *\__function* is doing the core of the work with looser
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checks, no locks or more parameters than *function*
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- function type and name are on the same line, if this is too long, the
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parameters continue on the next line (indented)
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- 'static inline' functions should be small (measured by their resulting binary
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size)
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- conditional definitions should follow the style below, where the full
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function body is in .c
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.. code-block:: c
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#ifdef CONFIG_BTRFS_DEBUG
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void btrfs_assert_everything_is_fine(void *ptr);
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#else
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void btrfs_assert_everything_is_fine(void *ptr) { }
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#endif
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Headers
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^^^^^^^
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- leave one newline before #endif in headers
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Comments
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^^^^^^^^
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- function comment goes to the .c file, not the header
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- kdoc style is recommended but the exact syntax is not mandated and
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we're using only subset of the formatting
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- the first line (mandatory): contains a brief description of what
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the function does and should provide a summary information
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- do write in the imperative style "Iterate all pages and clear
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some bits"
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- don't write "This function is a helper to ...", "This is used
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to ..."
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- parameter description (optional):
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- each line describes the parameter
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- the list needs to be in the same order as for the function
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- the list needs to be complete
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- trivial parameters don't need to be explained, e.g. fs_info is
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clear so the description could be 'the filesystem'
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- context of the parameters matters a lot in some cases and
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cannot be inferred from the name, then it should be documented
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.. code-block:: c
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/*
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* Look for blocks in the given offset.
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*
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* @fs_info: trivial parameters should be in the list but with some short description
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* @offset: describe the context of the argument, e.g. offset to page or inode ...
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*
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* Long description comes here if necessary.
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*
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* Return value semantics if it's not obvious
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*/
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- comment new enum/define values, brief description or pointers to the code
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that uses them
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- comment new data structures, their purpose and context of use
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- do not put struct member comments on the same line, put it on the line
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before and do not trim/abbreviate the text
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- comment text that fits on one line can use the */\* text \*/* format, slight
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overflow of 80 chars is OK
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Misc
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^^^^
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- fix spelling, grammar and formatting of comments that get moved or changed
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- fix coding style in code that's only moved
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- one newline between functions
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Locking
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^^^^^^^
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- do not use ``spin_is_locked`` but ``lockdep_assert_held``
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- do not use ``assert_spin_locked`` without reading it's semantics (it does
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not check if the caller hold the lock)
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- use ``lockdep_assert_held`` and its friends for lock assertions
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- add lock assertions to functions called deep in the call chain
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Code
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^^^^
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- default function return value is *int ret*, temporary return values should
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be named like *ret2* etc
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- structure initializers should use *{ 0 }*
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- do not use *short* type if possible, if it fits to char/u8 use it instead,
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or plain int
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Output
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^^^^^^
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- when dumping a lot of data after an error, consider what will remain visible
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last
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- in case of ``btrfs_print_leaf``, print the specific error message after
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that
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Expressions, operators
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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- spaces around binary operators, no spaces for unary operators
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- extra braces around expressions that might be harder to understand wrt
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precedence are fine (logical and/or, shifts with other operations)
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- *a \* b + c*, *(a << b) + c*, *(a % b) + c*
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- 64bit division is not allowed, either avoid it completely, or use bit
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shifts or use div_u64 helpers
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- do not use chained assignments: no *a = b = c;*
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Variable declarations, parameters
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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- declaration block in a function should do only simple initializations
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(pointers, constants); nothing that would require error handling or has
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non-trivial side effects
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- use *const* extensively
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- add temporary variable to store a value if it's used multiple times in the
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function, or if reading the value needs to chase a long pointer chain
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Kernel config options
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---------------------
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Compile-time config options for kernel that can help debugging, testing. They
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usually take a hit on performance or resources (memory) so they should be
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selected wisely. The options in **bold** should be safe to use by default for
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debugging builds.
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Please refer to the option documentation for further details.
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- devices for testing
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- **CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP** - enable loop device
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- for fstests: **DM_FLAKEY**, **CONFIG_FAIL_MAKE_REQUEST**
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- **CONFIG_SCSI_DEBUG** - fake scsi block device
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- memory
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- **CONFIG_SLUB_DEBUG** - boot with slub_debug
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- CONFIG_DEBUG_PAGEALLOC + CONFIG_DEBUG_PAGEALLOC_ENABLE_DEFAULT (on
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newer kernels)
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- CONFIG_SCHED_STACK_END_CHECK
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- CONFIG_PAGE_POISONING
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- CONFIG_HAVE_DEBUG_KMEMLEAK
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- CONFIG_FAILSLAB -- fault injection to kmalloc
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- CONFIG_DEBUG_LIST
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- CONFIG_BUG_ON_DATA_CORRUPTION
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- btrfs
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- **CONFIG_BTRFS_DEBUG**
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- **CONFIG_BTRFS_ASSERT**
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- **CONFIG_BTRFS_FS_RUN_SANITY_TESTS** -- basic tests on module load
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- **CONFIG_BTRFS_FS_CHECK_INTEGRITY** -- block integrity checker
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enabled by mount options
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- **CONFIG_BTRFS_FS_REF_VERIFY** -- additional checks for block
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references
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- locking
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- CONFIG_DEBUG_SPINLOCK, CONFIG_DEBUG_MUTEXES
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- CONFIG_DEBUG_LOCK_ALLOC
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- CONFIG_PROVE_LOCKING, CONFIG_LOCKDEP
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- CONFIG_LOCK_STAT
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- CONFIG_PROVE_RCU
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- CONFIG_DEBUG_ATOMIC_SLEEP
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- sanity checks
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- CONFIG_DEBUG_STACK_USAGE, CONFIG_HAVE_DEBUG_STACKOVERFLOW,
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CONFIG_DEBUG_STACKOVERFLOW
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- CONFIG_STACKTRACE
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- CONFIG_KASAN -- address sanitizer
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- CONFIG_UBSAN -- undefined behaviour sanitizer
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- CONFIG_KCSAN -- concurrency checker
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- verbose reporting
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- CONFIG_DEBUG_BUGVERBOSE
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- tracing
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- CONFIG_TRACING etc
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BUG: MAX_LOCKDEP_CHAIN_HLOCKS too low!
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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Not a bug. The lockdep structures can get in some cases full and cannot
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properly track locks anymore. There's only a workaround to increase the kernel
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config value of CONFIG_LOCKDEP_CHAINS_BITS, default is
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16, 18 tends to work, increase if needed.
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fstests setup
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-------------
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The `fstests <https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/fs/xfs/xfstests-dev.git/>`_
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suite has very few "hard" requirements and will succeed without
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actually running many tests. In order to ensure full test coverage, your test
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environment should provide the settings from the following sections. Please
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note that newly added tests silently add new dependencies, so you should always
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review results after an update.
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Kernel config options for complete test coverage
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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- ``CONFIG_FAULT_INJECTION=y``
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- ``CONFIG_FAULT_INJECTION_DEBUG_FS=y``
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- ``CONFIG_FAIL_MAKE_REQUEST=y``
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- ``CONFIG_DM_FLAKEY=m`` or ``y``
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- ``CONFIG_DM_THIN_PROVISIONING=m`` or ``y``
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- ``CONFIG_DM_SNAPSHOT=m`` or ``y``
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- ``CONFIG_DM_DELAY=m`` or ``y``
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- ``CONFIG_DM_ERROR=m`` or ``y``
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- ``CONFIG_DM_LOG_WRITES=m`` or ``y``
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- ``CONFIG_DM_DUST=m`` or ``y``
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- ``CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP=m`` or ``y``
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- ``CONFIG_EXT4_FS=m`` or ``y``
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- ``CONFIG_SCSI_DEBUG=m``
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- ``CONFIG_BLK_DEV_ZONED=y`` for zoned mode test coverage
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Kernel config options for better bug reports
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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See the list in the section above for more options.
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User space utilities and development library dependencies
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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- fio
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- dmsetup (device-mapper)
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- lvm
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- xfsprogs >= 4.3.1 (``xfs_io -c reflink`` is required)
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- btrfsprogs
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- dbench
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- openssl
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- libacl
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- libattr
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- libaio
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- libuuid
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- libcap-progs
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- duperemove
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Note: This list may be incomplete.
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Storage environment
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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- At least 4 identically sized partitions/disks/virtual disks, specified using
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||
``$SCRATCH_DEV_POOL``, some tests may require 8 such partitions
|
||
- some tests need at least 10G of free space, as determined by ``df``, i.e.
|
||
the size of the device may need to be larger
|
||
- some tests require ``$LOGWRITES_DEV``, yet another separate block device,
|
||
for power fail testing
|
||
- for testing trim and discard, the devices must be capable of that (physical
|
||
or virtual)
|
||
|
||
Other requirements
|
||
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
||
|
||
- An ``fsgqa`` user and group must exist.
|
||
- An ``123456-fsgqa`` user and group must exist.
|