nilfs2: add mount option that reduces super block writes

This patch introduces a mount option bad_ftl that disables the periodic overwrites of the super block to make the file system better suitable for bad flash memory with a bad FTL. The super block is only written at umount time. So if there is a unclean shutdown the file system needs to be recovered by a linear scan of all segment summary blocks.

The linear scan is only necessary if the file system wasn't umounted properly. So the normal mount time is not affected.

Signed-off-by Andreas Rohner <[email protected]>

---
 fs/nilfs2/recovery.c      | 248 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 fs/nilfs2/segbuf.c        |  16 ++-
 fs/nilfs2/segment.c       |   3 +-
 fs/nilfs2/segment.h       |   1 +
 fs/nilfs2/super.c         |  10 +-
 fs/nilfs2/the_nilfs.c     |   3 +
 include/linux/nilfs2_fs.h |   6 +-
 7 files changed, 281 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

fs/nilfs2/recovery.c +247 -0

index ff00a0b..7f9dd39 100644
@@ -55,6 +55,13 @@ struct nilfs_recovery_block {
 	struct list_head list;
 };
 
+/* work structure log cursor search */
+struct nilfs_seg_history {
+	u64 seq;
+	sector_t seg_start;
+};
+
+#define NILFS_SEG_HISTORY_DEPTH		3
 
 static int nilfs_warn_segment_error(int err)
 {

@@ -792,6 +799,247 @@ int nilfs_salvage_orphan_logs(struct the_nilfs *nilfs,
 	return err;
 }
 
+static inline int nilfs_validate_segment_summary_fast(struct the_nilfs *nilfs,
+		struct nilfs_segment_summary *sum)
+{
+	u32 crc;
+	int crc_size = sizeof(struct nilfs_segment_summary) -
+			(sizeof(sum->ss_datasum) +
+			sizeof(sum->ss_sumsum) +
+			sizeof(sum->ss_sumsum_fast) +
+			sizeof(sum->ss_cno));
+
+	if (le32_to_cpu(sum->ss_magic) != NILFS_SEGSUM_MAGIC
+		|| le32_to_cpu(sum->ss_nblocks) == 0
+		|| le32_to_cpu(sum->ss_nblocks) >
+			nilfs->ns_blocks_per_segment)
+		return -1;
+
+	crc = crc32_le(nilfs->ns_crc_seed,
+		       (unsigned char *)sum + sizeof(sum->ss_datasum) +
+		       sizeof(sum->ss_sumsum), crc_size);
+
+	if (le32_to_cpu(sum->ss_sumsum_fast) != crc)
+		return -1;
+
+	return 0;
+}
 
+static inline void nilfs_add_segment_history(struct nilfs_seg_history *history,
+		int hist_len, u64 seq, sector_t seg_start)
+{
+	int i, j;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < hist_len; ++i) {
+		if (seq > history[i].seq) {
+			for (j = hist_len - 1; j > i; --j)
+				history[j] = history[j - 1];
+
+			history[i].seq = seq;
+			history[i].seg_start = seg_start;
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+static inline void nilfs_init_segment_history(struct nilfs_seg_history *history,
+		int hist_len, u64 seq, sector_t seg_start)
+{
+	int i;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < hist_len; ++i) {
+		history[i].seq = seq;
+		history[i].seg_start = seg_start;
+	}
+}
+
+static int nilfs_search_partial_log_cursor(struct the_nilfs *nilfs,
+		u64 seq, sector_t pseg_start, sector_t *dest)
+{
+	struct buffer_head *bh_sum = NULL;
+	struct nilfs_segment_summary *sum;
+	sector_t seg_start, seg_end;
+	int ret = -1;
+
+	nilfs_get_segment_range(nilfs,
+			nilfs_get_segnum_of_block(nilfs, pseg_start),
+			&seg_start, &seg_end);
+
+	while (pseg_start < seg_end && pseg_start >= seg_start) {
+		brelse(bh_sum);
+
+		bh_sum = nilfs_read_log_header(nilfs, pseg_start, &sum);
+		if (!bh_sum)
+			return -EIO;
+
+		if (nilfs_validate_segment_summary_fast(nilfs, sum))
+			goto out;
+
+		if (le64_to_cpu(sum->ss_seq) != seq)
+			goto out;
+
+		if (le16_to_cpu(sum->ss_flags) & NILFS_SS_SR) {
+			*dest = pseg_start;
+			ret = 0;
+			goto out;
+		}
+
+		pseg_start += le32_to_cpu(sum->ss_nblocks);
+	}
+
+out:
+	brelse(bh_sum);
+	return ret;
+}
+
+static int nilfs_search_validate_log_cursor(struct the_nilfs *nilfs,
+		sector_t seg_start, u64 seq)
+{
+	struct buffer_head *bh_sum;
+	struct nilfs_segment_summary *sum;
+	sector_t b;
+	int ret;
+
+	bh_sum = nilfs_read_log_header(nilfs, seg_start, &sum);
+	if (!bh_sum) {
+		printk(KERN_ERR "NILFS error searching for cursor.\n");
+		return -EIO;
+	}
+
+	b = seg_start;
+	while (b < seg_start + le32_to_cpu(sum->ss_nblocks))
+		__breadahead(nilfs->ns_bdev, b++, nilfs->ns_blocksize);
+
+	ret = nilfs_validate_log(nilfs, seq, bh_sum, sum);
+	if (ret) {
+		ret = -1;
+	} else {
+		/* update nilfs log cursor */
+		nilfs->ns_last_pseg = seg_start;
+		nilfs->ns_last_cno = le64_to_cpu(sum->ss_cno);
+		nilfs->ns_last_seq = seq;
+
+		nilfs->ns_prev_seq = nilfs->ns_last_seq;
+		nilfs->ns_seg_seq = nilfs->ns_last_seq;
+		nilfs->ns_segnum =
+			nilfs_get_segnum_of_block(nilfs, nilfs->ns_last_pseg);
+		nilfs->ns_cno = nilfs->ns_last_cno + 1;
+	}
+
+	brelse(bh_sum);
+	return ret;
+}
+
+/**
+ * nilfs_search_log_cursor - search the latest log cursor
+ * @nilfs: the_nilfs
+ *
+ * Description: nilfs_search_log_cursor() performs a linear scan of all full
+ * segment summary blocks and updates the cursor of the nilfs object if a more
+ * recent segment is found. The cursor is only updated if the segment is valid
+ * and there is a super root present. The goal is to quickly find the latest
+ * segment and leave the rest of the heavy lifting to the normal recovery
+ * process.
+ *
+ * Return Value: On success, 0 is returned.  On error, one of the following
+ * negative error code is returned.
+ *
+ * %-EIO - I/O error
+ */
+int nilfs_search_log_cursor(struct the_nilfs *nilfs)
+{
+	u64 seq, segnum, segahead, nsegments = nilfs->ns_nsegments;
+	struct buffer_head *bh_sum = NULL;
+	struct nilfs_segment_summary *sum;
+	struct nilfs_seg_history history[NILFS_SEG_HISTORY_DEPTH];
+	struct nilfs_seg_history history_sr[NILFS_SEG_HISTORY_DEPTH];
+	sector_t seg_start = 0, seg_end;
+	int i;
+
+	printk(KERN_WARNING "NILFS warning: searching for latest log\n");
+
+	for (segahead = 0; segahead < 64 && segahead < nsegments; ++segahead) {
+		nilfs_get_segment_range(nilfs, segahead, &seg_start, &seg_end);
+		__breadahead(nilfs->ns_bdev, seg_start, nilfs->ns_blocksize);
+	}
+
+	nilfs_init_segment_history(history, NILFS_SEG_HISTORY_DEPTH,
+			nilfs->ns_last_seq, 0);
+	nilfs_init_segment_history(history_sr, NILFS_SEG_HISTORY_DEPTH,
+			nilfs->ns_last_seq, 0);
+
+	for (segnum = 0; segnum < nsegments; ++segnum, ++segahead) {
+		brelse(bh_sum);
+
+		if (segahead < nsegments) {
+			nilfs_get_segment_range(nilfs, segahead,
+					&seg_start, &seg_end);
+			__breadahead(nilfs->ns_bdev, seg_start,
+					nilfs->ns_blocksize);
+		}
+
+		nilfs_get_segment_range(nilfs, segnum, &seg_start, &seg_end);
+
+		bh_sum = nilfs_read_log_header(nilfs, seg_start, &sum);
+		if (!bh_sum) {
+			printk(KERN_ERR "NILFS error searching for cursor.\n");
+			return -EIO;
+		}
+
+		if (nilfs_validate_segment_summary_fast(nilfs, sum))
+			continue;
+
+		seq = le64_to_cpu(sum->ss_seq);
+
+		nilfs_add_segment_history(history, NILFS_SEG_HISTORY_DEPTH,
+				seq, seg_start);
+
+		if (!(le16_to_cpu(sum->ss_flags) & NILFS_SS_SR))
+			continue;
+
+		nilfs_add_segment_history(history_sr, NILFS_SEG_HISTORY_DEPTH,
+				seq, seg_start);
+	}
+	brelse(bh_sum);
+
+	/*
+	 * if last super root is too far off try to find
+	 * next super root in partial segment
+	 */
+	if (history_sr[0].seq + NILFS_SEG_HISTORY_DEPTH < history[0].seq) {
+		for (i = 0; i < NILFS_SEG_HISTORY_DEPTH; ++i) {
+			if (history[i].seg_start == 0 ||
+				history[i].seq <= nilfs->ns_last_seq)
+				break;
+
+			if (nilfs_search_partial_log_cursor(nilfs,
+					history[i].seq, history[i].seg_start,
+					&seg_start) == 0) {
+				nilfs_add_segment_history(history_sr,
+						NILFS_SEG_HISTORY_DEPTH,
+						history[i].seq, seg_start);
+				break;
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * try to validate one of the super root segments previously
+	 * collected
+	 */
+	for (i = 0; i < NILFS_SEG_HISTORY_DEPTH; ++i) {
+		if (history_sr[i].seg_start == 0 ||
+			history_sr[i].seq <= nilfs->ns_last_seq)
+			break;
+
+		if (nilfs_search_validate_log_cursor(nilfs,
+			history_sr[i].seg_start, history_sr[i].seq) == 0)
+			return 0;
+	}
+
+	return -1;
+}
+
 /**
  * nilfs_search_super_root - search the latest valid super root
  * @nilfs: the_nilfs

fs/nilfs2/segbuf.c +15 -1

index dc3a9efd..692bf26 100644
@@ -158,6 +158,9 @@ void nilfs_segbuf_fill_in_segsum(struct nilfs_segment_buffer *segbuf)
 {
 	struct nilfs_segment_summary *raw_sum;
 	struct buffer_head *bh_sum;
+	struct the_nilfs *nilfs = segbuf->sb_super->s_fs_info;
+	u32 crc;
+	int size;
 
 	bh_sum = list_entry(segbuf->sb_segsum_buffers.next,
 			    struct buffer_head, b_assoc_buffers);

@@ -172,8 +175,19 @@ void nilfs_segbuf_fill_in_segsum(struct nilfs_segment_buffer *segbuf)
 	raw_sum->ss_nblocks  = cpu_to_le32(segbuf->sb_sum.nblocks);
 	raw_sum->ss_nfinfo   = cpu_to_le32(segbuf->sb_sum.nfinfo);
 	raw_sum->ss_sumbytes = cpu_to_le32(segbuf->sb_sum.sumbytes);
-	raw_sum->ss_pad      = 0;
 	raw_sum->ss_cno      = cpu_to_le64(segbuf->sb_sum.cno);
+
+	size = sizeof(struct nilfs_segment_summary) -
+		(sizeof(raw_sum->ss_datasum) +
+		sizeof(raw_sum->ss_sumsum) +
+		sizeof(raw_sum->ss_sumsum_fast) +
+		sizeof(raw_sum->ss_cno));
+
+	crc = crc32_le(nilfs->ns_crc_seed,
+		       (unsigned char *)raw_sum + sizeof(raw_sum->ss_datasum) +
+		       sizeof(raw_sum->ss_sumsum), size);
+
+	raw_sum->ss_sumsum_fast = cpu_to_le32(crc);
 }
 
 /*

fs/nilfs2/segment.c +2 -1

index a1a1916..e8e38a9 100644
@@ -2288,7 +2288,8 @@ static int nilfs_segctor_construct(struct nilfs_sc_info *sci, int mode)
 		if (mode != SC_FLUSH_DAT)
 			atomic_set(&nilfs->ns_ndirtyblks, 0);
 		if (test_bit(NILFS_SC_SUPER_ROOT, &sci->sc_flags) &&
-		    nilfs_discontinued(nilfs)) {
+		    nilfs_discontinued(nilfs) &&
+		    !nilfs_test_opt(nilfs, BAD_FTL)) {
 			down_write(&nilfs->ns_sem);
 			err = -EIO;
 			sbp = nilfs_prepare_super(sci->sc_super,

fs/nilfs2/segment.h +1 -0

index 38a1d00..ceb0ea4 100644
@@ -237,6 +237,7 @@ void nilfs_detach_log_writer(struct super_block *sb);
 /* recovery.c */
 extern int nilfs_read_super_root_block(struct the_nilfs *, sector_t,
 				       struct buffer_head **, int);
+extern int nilfs_search_log_cursor(struct the_nilfs *nilfs);
 extern int nilfs_search_super_root(struct the_nilfs *,
 				   struct nilfs_recovery_info *);
 int nilfs_salvage_orphan_logs(struct the_nilfs *nilfs, struct super_block *sb,

fs/nilfs2/super.c +8 -2

index 7ac2a12..c3374ed 100644
@@ -505,7 +505,7 @@ static int nilfs_sync_fs(struct super_block *sb, int wait)
 		err = nilfs_construct_segment(sb);
 
 	down_write(&nilfs->ns_sem);
-	if (nilfs_sb_dirty(nilfs)) {
+	if (nilfs_sb_dirty(nilfs) && !nilfs_test_opt(nilfs, BAD_FTL)) {
 		sbp = nilfs_prepare_super(sb, nilfs_sb_will_flip(nilfs));
 		if (likely(sbp)) {
 			nilfs_set_log_cursor(sbp[0], nilfs);

@@ -691,6 +691,8 @@ static int nilfs_show_options(struct seq_file *seq, struct dentry *dentry)
 		seq_puts(seq, ",norecovery");
 	if (nilfs_test_opt(nilfs, DISCARD))
 		seq_puts(seq, ",discard");
+	if (nilfs_test_opt(nilfs, BAD_FTL))
+		seq_puts(seq, ",bad_ftl");
 
 	return 0;
 }

@@ -712,7 +714,7 @@ static const struct super_operations nilfs_sops = {
 enum {
 	Opt_err_cont, Opt_err_panic, Opt_err_ro,
 	Opt_barrier, Opt_nobarrier, Opt_snapshot, Opt_order, Opt_norecovery,
-	Opt_discard, Opt_nodiscard, Opt_err,
+	Opt_discard, Opt_nodiscard, Opt_err, Opt_bad_ftl,
 };
 
 static match_table_t tokens = {

@@ -726,6 +728,7 @@ static match_table_t tokens = {
 	{Opt_norecovery, "norecovery"},
 	{Opt_discard, "discard"},
 	{Opt_nodiscard, "nodiscard"},
+	{Opt_bad_ftl, "bad_ftl"},
 	{Opt_err, NULL}
 };
 

@@ -787,6 +790,9 @@ static int parse_options(char *options, struct super_block *sb, int is_remount)
 		case Opt_nodiscard:
 			nilfs_clear_opt(nilfs, DISCARD);
 			break;
+		case Opt_bad_ftl:
+			nilfs_set_opt(nilfs, BAD_FTL);
+			break;
 		default:
 			printk(KERN_ERR
 			       "NILFS: Unrecognized mount option \"%s\"\n", p);

fs/nilfs2/the_nilfs.c +3 -0

index 94c451c..a44bf40 100644
@@ -217,6 +217,9 @@ int load_nilfs(struct the_nilfs *nilfs, struct super_block *sb)
 	int err;
 
 	if (!valid_fs) {
+		if (nilfs_test_opt(nilfs, BAD_FTL))
+			nilfs_search_log_cursor(nilfs);
+
 		printk(KERN_WARNING "NILFS warning: mounting unchecked fs\n");
 		if (s_flags & MS_RDONLY) {
 			printk(KERN_INFO "NILFS: INFO: recovery "

include/linux/nilfs2_fs.h +4 -2

index 9875576..03424d4 100644
@@ -135,6 +135,8 @@ struct nilfs_super_root {
 #define NILFS_MOUNT_NORECOVERY		0x4000  /* Disable write access during
 						   mount-time recovery */
 #define NILFS_MOUNT_DISCARD		0x8000  /* Issue DISCARD requests */
+#define NILFS_MOUNT_BAD_FTL		0x10000 /* Only write super block
+						   at umount time */
 
 
 /**

@@ -407,7 +409,7 @@ union nilfs_binfo {
  * @ss_nblocks: number of blocks
  * @ss_nfinfo: number of finfo structures
  * @ss_sumbytes: total size of segment summary in bytes
- * @ss_pad: padding
+ * @ss_sumsum_fast: small sum of only the nilfs_segment_summary
  * @ss_cno: checkpoint number
  */
 struct nilfs_segment_summary {

@@ -422,7 +424,7 @@ struct nilfs_segment_summary {
 	__le32 ss_nblocks;
 	__le32 ss_nfinfo;
 	__le32 ss_sumbytes;
-	__le32 ss_pad;
+	__le32 ss_sumsum_fast;
 	__le64 ss_cno;
 	/* array of finfo structures */
 };

Signature · 6 lines

1.8.5.3

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Hi Andreas,

Quoted 10 lines · Andreas Rohner

This patch introduces a mount option bad_ftl that disables the periodic overwrites of the super block to make the file system better suitable for bad flash memory with a bad FTL. The super block is only written at umount time. So if there is a unclean shutdown the file system needs to be recovered by a linear scan of all segment summary blocks.

The linear scan is only necessary if the file system wasn't umounted properly. So the normal mount time is not affected.

Quoted 1 line

Signed-off-by Andreas Rohner <[email protected]>

Do we really need to add the third crc in segument summary headers ? After all, we need to do a full check for a log with a super root block to validate it.

This patch also seems to be using the nature that headers which have a NILFS_SS_SR flag sometimes appear at the head of segments. But this is not guranteed. Is this condition eliminable?

The measurement results are very interesting (thanks for the effort), but they look to rely on a few these ellipsis techniques for reducing recovery time.

Hi Ryusuke,

Quoted 12 lines · Ryusuke Konishi

Hi Andreas,

Quoted 10 lines · Andreas Rohner

This patch introduces a mount option bad_ftl that disables the periodic overwrites of the super block to make the file system better suitable for bad flash memory with a bad FTL. The super block is only written at umount time. So if there is a unclean shutdown the file system needs to be recovered by a linear scan of all segment summary blocks.

The linear scan is only necessary if the file system wasn't umounted properly. So the normal mount time is not affected.

Quoted 6 lines

Quoted 1 line

Signed-off-by Andreas Rohner <[email protected]>

Do we really need to add the third crc in segument summary headers ? After all, we need to do a full check for a log with a super root block to validate it.

I need a way to quickly decide if a segment could be potentially valid without reading in more blocks. The third crc is there, to make sure, that the segment is not a valid segment of a previous instance of NILFS2 on the same volume. Such a previous instance would have used a different crc seed. I only keep a limited number of history entries. This history could be easily filled up with old segments from a previous instance and the recovery would fail.

I tried to use the ss_sumsum crc for that purpose, but for that I have to read in on average 5 to 8 extra blocks per segment. I cannot read ahead these blocks, so the whole search is slowed down.

Quoted 3 lines

This patch also seems to be using the nature that headers which have a NILFS_SS_SR flag sometimes appear at the head of segments. But this is not guranteed. Is this condition eliminable?

It uses that fact, but it does not rely on it. If there is a recent segment with NILFS_SS_SR flag at the top it will use that and leave the rest to the normal recovery function. But if none is found, it will scan all partial segments for the NILFS_SS_SR flag. This is done in nilfs_search_partial_log_cursor.

Quoted 4 lines

The measurement results are very interesting (thanks for the effort), but they look to rely on a few these ellipsis techniques for reducing recovery time.

We could easily increase the security by increasing the NILFS_SEG_HISTORY_DEPTH, without reducing the performance. The performance is mainly determined by how fast the device can read in the segment summary blocks.

It just scans all the segment summary blocks of all segments and keeps a history of the most promising candidates for recovery. After that the candidates are processed further, including a full crc check and search for partial segments with the NILFS_SS_SR flag if necessary.

Quoted 30 lines · Andreas Rohner

Hi Ryusuke,

Quoted 12 lines · Ryusuke Konishi

Hi Andreas,

Quoted 10 lines · Andreas Rohner

This patch introduces a mount option bad_ftl that disables the periodic overwrites of the super block to make the file system better suitable for bad flash memory with a bad FTL. The super block is only written at umount time. So if there is a unclean shutdown the file system needs to be recovered by a linear scan of all segment summary blocks.

The linear scan is only necessary if the file system wasn't umounted properly. So the normal mount time is not affected.

Quoted 6 lines

Quoted 1 line

Signed-off-by Andreas Rohner <[email protected]>

Do we really need to add the third crc in segument summary headers ? After all, we need to do a full check for a log with a super root block to validate it.

I need a way to quickly decide if a segment could be potentially valid without reading in more blocks. The third crc is there, to make sure, that the segment is not a valid segment of a previous instance of NILFS2 on the same volume. Such a previous instance would have used a different crc seed. I only keep a limited number of history entries. This history could be easily filled up with old segments from a previous instance and the recovery would fail.

Quoted 3 lines

I tried to use the ss_sumsum crc for that purpose, but for that I have to read in on average 5 to 8 extra blocks per segment. I cannot read ahead these blocks, so the whole search is slowed down.

Sound reasonable. We still need to care for the field name and disk format compatibility (including compat flags), but it sounds inevitable for this approach.

Quoted 9 lines

Quoted 3 lines

This patch also seems to be using the nature that headers which have a NILFS_SS_SR flag sometimes appear at the head of segments. But this is not guranteed. Is this condition eliminable?

It uses that fact, but it does not rely on it. If there is a recent segment with NILFS_SS_SR flag at the top it will use that and leave the rest to the normal recovery function. But if none is found, it will scan all partial segments for the NILFS_SS_SR flag. This is done in nilfs_search_partial_log_cursor.

But, the full segment scan by nilfs_search_partial_log_cursor() looks to be performed only for segments whose sequence number is registered in history[i].seq. If no registered semgents have a super root block, what will happen?

Quoted 9 lines

Quoted 3 lines

The measurement results are very interesting (thanks for the effort), but they look to rely on a few these ellipsis techniques for reducing recovery time.

We could easily increase the security by increasing the NILFS_SEG_HISTORY_DEPTH, without reducing the performance. The performance is mainly determined by how fast the device can read in the segment summary blocks.

Quoted 4 lines

It just scans all the segment summary blocks of all segments and keeps a history of the most promising candidates for recovery. After that the candidates are processed further, including a full crc check and search for partial segments with the NILFS_SS_SR flag if necessary.

Honestly, I'm still hesitative about the full scan approach since the mount time depends on the device size and the medium type.

If we define some window size based on the performance of the device (which would be measured and written in super block with mkfs or nilfs-tune), and can limit the range of scan, things may become more manageable.

Quoted 3 lines · Ryusuke Konishi

On Tue, 11 Feb 2014 15:07:48 +0100, Andreas Rohner wrote:
Honestly, I'm still hesitative about the full scan approach since the mount time depends on the device size and the medium type.

I wouldn't recommend it as the default recovery option. The user has to make a decision if it is right for his or her device and activate it. But until now it is just a stupid experiment. It would only be useful in certain corner cases anyway. Thanks for reviewing it!

Quoted 4 lines

If we define some window size based on the performance of the device (which would be measured and written in super block with mkfs or nilfs-tune), and can limit the range of scan, things may become more manageable.

That would certainly be possible. The window would start at s_last_pseg and end at (s_last_pseg + window size). We could then simply force a super block write as soon as the first segment is allocated outside of the window. This could still significantly reduce the number of writes to the super block.

Thanks for your review,

Quoted 21 lines · Andreas Rohner

Quoted 3 lines · Ryusuke Konishi

On Tue, 11 Feb 2014 15:07:48 +0100, Andreas Rohner wrote:
Honestly, I'm still hesitative about the full scan approach since the mount time depends on the device size and the medium type.

I wouldn't recommend it as the default recovery option. The user has to make a decision if it is right for his or her device and activate it. But until now it is just a stupid experiment. It would only be useful in certain corner cases anyway. Thanks for reviewing it!

Quoted 4 lines

If we define some window size based on the performance of the device (which would be measured and written in super block with mkfs or nilfs-tune), and can limit the range of scan, things may become more manageable.

That would certainly be possible. The window would start at s_last_pseg and end at (s_last_pseg + window size). We could then simply force a super block write as soon as the first segment is allocated outside of the window. This could still significantly reduce the number of writes to the super block.

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Thanks for your review,

You're welcome, thank you, too.

By the way, we have another todo for flash devices. It is FITRIM ioctl support. FITRIM is an API to issue TRIM/DISCARD requests (through blkdev_issue_flash function) to a portion of underlying

device to allow batch DISCARD by userland tools. It helps GC optimization of underlying flash device or thinprovisioning feature of block storage. NILFS is suit for implementing this feature since free space is managed in segment unit and sufile is available, but was long time left.

If you have an interest, please take a look at it, too.

Thanks,
Ryusuke Konishi
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Instead of periodically writing to the super block, this patch only writes at mount and umount time and performs a linear scan for the latest segment in case a recovery is necessary.
The SD-Cards and the USB-Stick are not particularly fast, but they are small enough so that the recovery time is tolerable.

I see. For further discussion on this approach, it looks like we need some measurement data of the situation that this patch makes a difference (for example, for an SD card or some device). Anyway, I agree that the patch has a value for experiment purpose.

Hi Andreas, hi Ryusuke,

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Instead of periodically writing to the super block, this patch only writes at mount and umount time and performs a linear scan for the latest segment in case a recovery is necessary.
The SD-Cards and the USB-Stick are not particularly fast, but they are small enough so that the recovery time is tolerable.

Finally I found some time to test your patch and also the new version works fine (and fast!) here:

[ 3.349464] NILFS warning: searching for latest log
[ 4.747552] NILFS warning: mounting unchecked fs
[ 5.214883] NILFS: recovery complete.

So your enhanced recovery code requires ~1.3s for a 12GB nilfs2 partition on the higher-end 16GB SD card I use in the raspberry. Also, despite frequent power-cuts I haven't obsereved any issues - which made me switch to nilfs2+patch even for the rootfs (was ext4 ro).

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I see. For further discussion on this approach, it looks like we need some measurement data of the situation that this patch makes a difference (for example, for an SD card or some device). Anyway, I agree that the patch has a value for experiment purpose.

What do you think about the results obtained by andreas and me? With SD cards (in the raspberry) I experience linear scan times as low as ~110ms/1GB, and for everything else avoiding superblock writes probably doesn't make sense anyway. And if some techie enables the option on his SSD, recovery is also blazingly fast.

Thanks a lot & best regards, Clemens