Message-ID: <92e402e548ef065f15fb4b36a47fefde6d2befb4.camel@themaw.net>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/2] xfs: make sure link path does not go away at access
From:   Ian Kent <raven@themaw.net>
To:     "Darrick J. Wong" <djwong@kernel.org>
Cc:     Brian Foster <bfoster@redhat.com>,
        Dave Chinner <david@fromorbit.com>,
        Miklos Szeredi <miklos@szeredi.hu>,
        xfs <linux-xfs@vger.kernel.org>,
        Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>,
        David Howells <dhowells@redhat.com>,
        linux-fsdevel <linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org>,
        Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Date:   Thu, 16 Dec 2021 10:45:18 +0800
In-Reply-To: <20211215050619.GJ1218082@magnolia>
References: <YZPVSTDIWroHNvFS@bfoster>
         <20211117002251.GR449541@dread.disaster.area> <YZVQUSCWWgOs+cRB@bfoster>
         <20211117214852.GU449541@dread.disaster.area> <YZf+lRsb0lBWdYgN@bfoster>
         <20211122000851.GE449541@dread.disaster.area> <YZvvP9RFXi3/jX0q@bfoster>
         <20211122232657.GF449541@dread.disaster.area> <YZ6m4ZyUDt5SaICI@bfoster>
         <54f47924fbb3c3af17497fd6d1b1c5326a2d7c3d.camel@themaw.net>
         <20211215050619.GJ1218082@magnolia>
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On Tue, 2021-12-14 at 21:06 -0800, Darrick J. Wong wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 15, 2021 at 11:54:11AM +0800, Ian Kent wrote:
> > On Wed, 2021-11-24 at 15:56 -0500, Brian Foster wrote:
> > > On Tue, Nov 23, 2021 at 10:26:57AM +1100, Dave Chinner wrote:
> > > > On Mon, Nov 22, 2021 at 02:27:59PM -0500, Brian Foster wrote:
> > > > > On Mon, Nov 22, 2021 at 11:08:51AM +1100, Dave Chinner wrote:
> > > > > > On Fri, Nov 19, 2021 at 02:44:21PM -0500, Brian Foster
> > > > > > wrote:
> > > > > > > In
> > > > > > > any event, another experiment I ran in light of the above
> > > > > > > results that
> > > > > > > might be similar was to put the inode queueing component
> > > > > > > of
> > > > > > > destroy_inode() behind an rcu callback. This reduces the
> > > > > > > single threaded
> > > > > > > perf hit from the previous approach by about 50%. So not
> > > > > > > entirely
> > > > > > > baseline performance, but it's back closer to baseline if
> > > > > > > I
> > > > > > > double the
> > > > > > > throttle threshold (and actually faster at 4x). Perhaps
> > > > > > > my
> > > > > > > crude
> > > > > > > prototype logic could be optimized further to not rely on
> > > > > > > percpu
> > > > > > > threshold changes to match the baseline.
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > My overall takeaway from these couple hacky experiments
> > > > > > > is
> > > > > > > that the
> > > > > > > unconditional synchronous rcu wait is indeed probably too
> > > > > > > heavy weight,
> > > > > > > as you point out. The polling or callback (or perhaps
> > > > > > > your
> > > > > > > separate
> > > > > > > queue) approach seems to be in the ballpark of viability,
> > > > > > > however,
> > > > > > > particularly when we consider the behavior of scaled or
> > > > > > > mixed
> > > > > > > workloads
> > > > > > > (since inactive queue processing seems to be size driven
> > > > > > > vs.
> > > > > > > latency
> > > > > > > driven).
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > So I dunno.. if you consider the various severity and
> > > > > > > complexity
> > > > > > > tradeoffs, this certainly seems worth more consideration
> > > > > > > to
> > > > > > > me. I can
> > > > > > > think of other potentially interesting ways to experiment
> > > > > > > with
> > > > > > > optimizing the above or perhaps tweak queueing to better
> > > > > > > facilitate
> > > > > > > taking advantage of grace periods, but it's not worth
> > > > > > > going
> > > > > > > too far down
> > > > > > > that road if you're wedded to the "busy inodes" approach.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > I'm not wedded to "busy inodes" but, as your experiments
> > > > > > are
> > > > > > indicating, trying to handle rcu grace periods into the
> > > > > > deferred
> > > > > > inactivation path isn't completely mitigating the impact of
> > > > > > having
> > > > > > to wait for a grace period for recycling of inodes.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > What I'm seeing so far is that the impact seems to be limited
> > > > > to
> > > > > the
> > > > > single threaded workload and largely mitigated by an increase
> > > > > in
> > > > > the
> > > > > percpu throttle limit. IOW, it's not completely free right
> > > > > out of
> > > > > the
> > > > > gate, but the impact seems isolated and potentially mitigated
> > > > > by
> > > > > adjustment of the pipeline.
> > > > > 
> > > > > I realize the throttle is a percpu value, so that is what has
> > > > > me
> > > > > wondering about some potential for gains in efficiency to try
> > > > > and
> > > > > get
> > > > > more of that single-threaded performance back in other ways,
> > > > > or
> > > > > perhaps
> > > > > enhancements that might be more broadly beneficial to
> > > > > deferred
> > > > > inactivations in general (i.e. some form of adaptive
> > > > > throttling
> > > > > thresholds to balance percpu thresholds against a global
> > > > > threshold).
> > > > 
> > > > I ran experiments on queue depth early on. Once we go over a
> > > > few
> > > > tens of inodes we start to lose the "hot cache" effect and
> > > > performance starts to go backwards. By queue depths of
> > > > hundreds,
> > > > we've lost all the hot cache and nothing else gets that
> > > > performance
> > > > back because we can't avoid the latency of all the memory
> > > > writes
> > > > from cache eviction and the followup memory loads that result.
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > Admittedly my testing is simple/crude as I'm just exploring the
> > > potential viability of a concept, not fine tuning a workload,
> > > etc.
> > > That
> > > said, I'm curious to know what your tests for this look like
> > > because
> > > I
> > > suspect I'm running into different conditions. My tests
> > > frequently
> > > hit
> > > the percpu throttle threshold (256 inodes), which is beyond your
> > > ideal
> > > tens of inodes range (and probably more throttle limited than cpu
> > > cache
> > > limited).
> > > 
> > > > Making the per-cpu queues longer or shorter based on global
> > > > state
> > > > won't gain us anything. ALl it will do is slow down local
> > > > operations
> > > > that don't otherwise need slowing down....
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > This leaves out context. The increase in throttle threshold
> > > mitigates
> > > the delays I've introduced via the rcu callback. That happens to
> > > produce
> > > observable results comparable to my baseline test, but it's more
> > > of a
> > > measure of the impact of the delay than a direct proposal. If
> > > there's
> > > a
> > > more fine grained test worth running here (re: above), please
> > > describe
> > > it.
> > > 
> > > > > > I suspect a rethink on the inode recycling mechanism is
> > > > > > needed.
> > > > > > THe
> > > > > > way it is currently implemented was a brute force solution
> > > > > > - it
> > > > > > is
> > > > > > simple and effective. However, we need more nuance in the
> > > > > > recycling
> > > > > > logic now.  That is, if we are recycling an inode that is
> > > > > > clean, has
> > > > > > nlink >=1 and has not been unlinked, it means the VFS
> > > > > > evicted
> > > > > > it too
> > > > > > soon and we are going to re-instantiate it as the identical
> > > > > > inode
> > > > > > that was evicted from cache.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > Probably. How advantageous is inode memory reuse supposed to
> > > > > be
> > > > > in the
> > > > > first place? I've more considered it a necessary side effect
> > > > > of
> > > > > broader
> > > > > architecture (i.e. deferred reclaim, etc.) as opposed to a
> > > > > primary
> > > > > optimization.
> > > > 
> > > > Yes, it's an architectural feature resulting from the
> > > > filesystem
> > > > inode life cycle being different to the VFS inode life cycle.
> > > > This
> > > > was inherited from Irix - it had separate inactivation vs
> > > > reclaim
> > > > states and action steps for vnodes - inactivation occurred when
> > > > the
> > > > vnode refcount went to zero, reclaim occurred when the vnode
> > > > was to
> > > > be freed.
> > > > 
> > > > Architecturally, Linux doesn't have this two-step
> > > > infrastructure;
> > > > it
> > > > just has evict() that runs everything when the inode needs to
> > > > be
> > > > reclaimed. Hence we hide the two-phase reclaim architecture of
> > > > XFS
> > > > behind that, and so we always had this troublesome impedence
> > > > mismatch on Linux.
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > Ok, that was generally how I viewed it.
> > > 
> > > > Thinking a bit about this, maybe there is a more integrated way
> > > > to
> > > > handle this life cycle impedence mismatch by making the way we
> > > > interact with the linux inode cache to be more ...  Irix like.
> > > > Linux
> > > > does actually give us a a callback when the last reference to
> > > > an
> > > > inode goes away: .drop_inode()
> > > > 
> > > > i.e. Maybe we should look to triggering inactivation work from
> > > > ->drop_inode instead of ->destroy_inode and hence always
> > > > leaving
> > > > unreferenced, reclaimable inodes in the VFS cache on the LRU.
> > > > i.e.
> > > > rather than hiding the two-phase XFS inode inactivation+reclaim
> > > > algorithm from the VFS, move it up into the VFS.  If we prevent
> > > > inodes from being reclaimed from the LRU until they have
> > > > finished
> > > > inactivation and are clean (easy enough just by marking the
> > > > inode
> > > > as
> > > > dirty), that would allow us to immediately reclaim and free
> > > > inodes
> > > > in evict() context. Integration with __wait_on_freeing_inode()
> > > > would
> > > > like solve the RCU reuse/recycling issues.
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > Hmm.. this is the point where we decide whether the inode remains
> > > cached, which is currently basically whether the inode has a link
> > > count
> > > or not. That makes me curious what (can) happens with an
> > > unlinked/inactivated inode on the lru. I'm not sure any other fs'
> > > do
> > > anything like that currently..?
> > > 
> > > > There's more to it than just this, but perhaps the longer term
> > > > direction should be closer integration with the Linux inode
> > > > cache
> > > > life cycle rather than trying to solve all these problems
> > > > underneath
> > > > the VFS cache whilst still trying to play by it's rules...
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > Yeah. Caching logic details aside, I think that makes sense.
> > > 
> > > > > I still see reuse occur with deferred inactivation, we
> > > > > just end up cycling through the same set of inodes as they
> > > > > fall
> > > > > through
> > > > > the queue rather than recycling the same one over and over.
> > > > > I'm
> > > > > sort of
> > > > > wondering what the impact would be if we didn't do this at
> > > > > all
> > > > > (for the
> > > > > new allocation case at least).
> > > > 
> > > > We end up with a larger pool of free inodes in the finobt. This
> > > > is
> > > > basically what my "busy inode check" proposal is based on -
> > > > inodes
> > > > that we can't allocate without recycling just remain on the
> > > > finobt
> > > > for longer before they can be used. This would be awful if we
> > > > didn't
> > > > have the finobt to efficiently locate free inodes - the finobt
> > > > record iteration makes it pretty low overhead to scan inodes
> > > > here.
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > I get the idea. That last bit is what I'm skeptical about. The
> > > finobt
> > > is
> > > based on the premise that free inode lookup becomes a predictable
> > > tree
> > > lookup instead of the old searching algorithm on the inobt, which
> > > we
> > > still support and can be awful in its own right under worst case
> > > conditions. I agree that this would be bad on the inobt (which
> > > raises
> > > the question on how we'd provide these recycling correctness
> > > guarantees
> > > on !finobt fs'). What I'm more concerned about is whether this
> > > could
> > > make finobt enabled fs' (transiently) just as poor as the old
> > > algo
> > > under
> > > certain workloads/conditions.
> > > 
> > > I think there needs to be at least some high level description of
> > > the
> > > search algorithm before we can sufficiently reason about it's
> > > behavior..
> > > 
> > > > > > So how much re-initialisation do we actually need for that
> > > > > > inode?
> > > > > > Almost everything in the inode is still valid; the problems
> > > > > > come
> > > > > > from inode_init_always() resetting the entire internal
> > > > > > inode
> > > > > > state
> > > > > > and XFS then having to set them up again.  The internal
> > > > > > state
> > > > > > is
> > > > > > already largely correct when we start recycling, and the
> > > > > > identity of
> > > > > > the recycled inode does not change when nlink >= 1. Hence
> > > > > > eliding
> > > > > > inode_init_always() would also go a long way to avoiding
> > > > > > the
> > > > > > need
> > > > > > for a RCU grace period to pass before we can make the inode
> > > > > > visible
> > > > > > to the VFS again.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > If we can do that, then the only indoes that need a grace
> > > > > > period
> > > > > > before they can be recycled are unlinked inodes as they
> > > > > > change
> > > > > > identity when being recycled. That identity change
> > > > > > absolutely
> > > > > > requires a grace period to expire before the new
> > > > > > instantiation
> > > > > > can
> > > > > > be made visible.  Given the arbitrary delay that this can
> > > > > > introduce
> > > > > > for an inode allocation operation, it seems much better
> > > > > > suited
> > > > > > to
> > > > > > detecting busy inodes than waiting for a global OS state
> > > > > > change
> > > > > > to
> > > > > > occur...
> > > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > Maybe..? The experiments I've been doing are aimed at
> > > > > simplicity
> > > > > and
> > > > > reducing the scope of the changes. Part of the reason for
> > > > > this is
> > > > > tbh
> > > > > I'm not totally convinced we really need to do anything more
> > > > > complex
> > > > > than preserve the inline symlink buffer one way or another
> > > > > (for
> > > > > example,
> > > > > see the rfc patch below for an alternative to the inline
> > > > > symlink
> > > > > rcuwalk
> > > > > disable patch). Maybe we should consider something like this
> > > > > anyways.
> > > > > 
> > > > > With busy inodes, we need to alter inode allocation to some
> > > > > degree to
> > > > > accommodate. We can have (tens of?) thousands of inodes under
> > > > > the
> > > > > grace
> > > > > period at any time based on current batching behavior, so
> > > > > it's
> > > > > not
> > > > > totally evident to me that we won't end up with some of the
> > > > > same
> > > > > fundamental issues to deal with here, just needing to be
> > > > > accommodated in
> > > > > the inode allocation algorithm rather than the teardown
> > > > > sequence.
> > > > 
> > > > Sure, but the purpose of the allocation selection
> > > > policy is to select the best inode to allocate for the current
> > > > context.  The cost of not being able to use an inode
> > > > immediately
> > > > needs to be factored into that allocation policy. i.e. if the
> > > > selected inode has an associated delay with it before it can be
> > > > reused and other free inodes don't, then we should not be
> > > > selecting
> > > > the inode with a delay associcated with it.
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > We still have to find those "no delay" inodes. AFAICT the worst
> > > case
> > > conditions on the system I've been playing with can have
> > > something
> > > like
> > > 20k free && busy inodes. That could cover all or most of the
> > > finobt
> > > at
> > > the time of an inode allocation. What happens from there depends
> > > on
> > > the
> > > search algorithm.
> > > 
> > > > This is exactly the reasoning and logic we use for busy
> > > > extents. 
> > > > We
> > > > only take the blocking penalty for resolving busy extent state
> > > > if
> > > > we
> > > > run out of free extents to search before we've found an
> > > > allocation
> > > > candidate. I think it makes sense for inode allocation, too.
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > Sure, the idea makes sense and it's worth looking into. But there
> > > are
> > > enough contextual differences that I wouldn't just assume the
> > > same
> > > logic
> > > translates over to the finobt without potential for performance
> > > impact.
> > > For example, extent allocation has some advantages with things
> > > like
> > > delalloc (physical block allocation occurs async from buffered
> > > write
> > > syscall time) and the fact that metadata allocs can reuse busy
> > > blocks.
> > > The finobt only tracks existing chunks with free inodes, so it's
> > > easily
> > > possible to have conditions where the finobt is 100% (or
> > > majority)
> > > populated with busy inodes (whether it be one inode or several
> > > thousand).
> > > 
> > > This raises questions like at what point does search cost become
> > > a
> > > factor? At what point and with what frequency do we suffer the
> > > blocking
> > > penalty? Do we opt to allocate new chunks based on gp state?
> > > Something
> > > else? We don't need to answer these questions here (this thread
> > > is
> > > long
> > > enough :P). I'm just trying to say that it's one thing to
> > > consider
> > > the
> > > approach a viable option, but it isn't automatically preferable
> > > just
> > > because we use it for extents. Further details beyond "detect
> > > busy
> > > inodes" would be nice to objectively reason about.
> > > 
> > > > > --- 8< ---
> > > > > 
> > > > > diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_inode.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_inode.c
> > > > > index 64b9bf334806..058e3fc69ff7 100644
> > > > > --- a/fs/xfs/xfs_inode.c
> > > > > +++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_inode.c
> > > > > @@ -2644,7 +2644,7 @@ xfs_ifree(
> > > > >          * already been freed by xfs_attr_inactive.
> > > > >          */
> > > > >         if (ip->i_df.if_format == XFS_DINODE_FMT_LOCAL) {
> > > > > -               kmem_free(ip->i_df.if_u1.if_data);
> > > > > +               kfree_rcu(ip->i_df.if_u1.if_data);
> > > > >                 ip->i_df.if_u1.if_data = NULL;
> > > > 
> > > > That would need to be rcu_assign_pointer(ip-
> > > > >i_df.if_u1.if_data,
> > > > NULL) to put the correct memory barriers in place, right? Also,
> > > > I
> > > > think ip->i_df.if_u1.if_data needs to be set to NULL before
> > > > calling
> > > > kfree_rcu() so racing lookups will always see NULL before
> > > > the object is freed.
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > I think rcu_assign_pointer() is intended to be paired with the
> > > associated rcu deref and for scenarios like making sure an object
> > > isn't
> > > made available until it's completely initialized (i.e. such as
> > > for
> > > rcu
> > > protected list traversals, etc.).
> > > 
> > > With regard to ordering, we no longer access if_data in rcuwalk
> > > mode
> > > with this change. Thus I think all we need here is the
> > > WRITE_ONCE(i_link, NULL) that pairs with the READ_ONCE() in the
> > > vfs,
> > > and
> > > that happens earlier in xfs_inactive_symlink() before we rcu free
> > > the
> > > memory here. With that, ISTM a racing lookup should either see an
> > > rcu
> > > protected i_link or NULL, the latter of which calls into -
> > > >get_link()
> > > and triggers refwalk mode. Hm?
> > > 
> > > > But again, as I asked up front, why do we even need to free
> > > > this
> > > > memory buffer here? It will be freed in
> > > > xfs_inode_free_callback()
> > > > after the current RCU grace period expires, so what do we gain
> > > > by
> > > > freeing it separately here?
> > > > 
> > 
> > The thing that's been bugging me is not knowing if the VFS has
> > finished using the link string.
> > 
> > The link itself can be removed while the link path could still
> > be valid and the VFS will then walk that path. So rcu grace time
> > might not be sufficient but stashing the pointer and rcu freeing
> > it ensures the pointer won't go away while the walk is under way
> > without any grace period guessing. Relating this to the current
> > path walk via an rcu delayed free is a reliable way to do what's
> > needed.
> > 
> > The only problem here is that path string remaining while it is
> > being used. If there aren't any other known problems with the
> > xfs inode re-use sub system I don't see any worth in complicating
> > it to cater for this special case.
> > 
> > Brian's patch is a variation on the original patch and is all
> > that's really needed. IMHO going this way (whatever we end up
> > with) is the sensible thing to do.
> 
> Why not simply change xfs_readlink to memcpy ip->i_df.if_u1.if_data
> into
> the caller's link buffer?  We shouldn't be exposing internal XFS
> metadata buffers to the VFS to scribble on without telling us; this
> gets
> rid of the dual inode_operations for symlinks; and we're probably
> breaking a locking rule somewhere by not taking any locks AFAICT. 
> That
> seems a lot less complex than adding rcu freeing rules to understand
> how
> to handle local format file forks.

Ahhhaa ... I didn't/don't understand what these inline symlinks
are.

But it seems they aren't too different from the usual symlinks
and treating them as such makes the problem go away.

I'm pretty sure I was missing the point of some of this discussion
too because I just didn't get it.

Thanks for helping me get what's going on here Darrick.

Ian
> 
> (I say this from the vantage point of online repair, which will try
> to
> salvage damaged symlinks, for which we actually /do/ want to be able
> to
> lock out readers and change the data fork after symlink creation...
> but
> I was saving that for 2022 because I'm too overwhelmed to try to send
> that again.)
> 
> --D
> 
> > 
> > Ian
> > > 
> > > One prevented memory leak? ;)
> > > 
> > > It won't be freed in xfs_inode_free_callback() because we change
> > > the
> > > data fork format type (and clear i_mode) in this path. Perhaps
> > > that
> > > could use an audit, but that's a separate issue.
> > > 
> > > > >                 ip->i_df.if_bytes = 0;
> > > > >         }
> > > > > diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_iops.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_iops.c
> > > > > index a607d6aca5c4..e98d7f10ba7d 100644
> > > > > --- a/fs/xfs/xfs_iops.c
> > > > > +++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_iops.c
> > > > > @@ -511,27 +511,6 @@ xfs_vn_get_link(
> > > > >         return ERR_PTR(error);
> > > > >  }
> > > > >  
> > > > > -STATIC const char *
> > > > > -xfs_vn_get_link_inline(
> > > > > -       struct dentry           *dentry,
> > > > > -       struct inode            *inode,
> > > > > -       struct delayed_call     *done)
> > > > > -{
> > > > > -       struct xfs_inode        *ip = XFS_I(inode);
> > > > > -       char                    *link;
> > > > > -
> > > > > -       ASSERT(ip->i_df.if_format == XFS_DINODE_FMT_LOCAL);
> > > > > -
> > > > > -       /*
> > > > > -        * The VFS crashes on a NULL pointer, so return -
> > > > > EFSCORRUPTED if
> > > > > -        * if_data is junk.
> > > > > -        */
> > > > > -       link = ip->i_df.if_u1.if_data;
> > > > > -       if (XFS_IS_CORRUPT(ip->i_mount, !link))
> > > > > -               return ERR_PTR(-EFSCORRUPTED);
> > > > > -       return link;
> > > > > -}
> > > > > -
> > > > >  static uint32_t
> > > > >  xfs_stat_blksize(
> > > > >         struct xfs_inode        *ip)
> > > > > @@ -1250,14 +1229,6 @@ static const struct inode_operations
> > > > > xfs_symlink_inode_operations = {
> > > > >         .update_time            = xfs_vn_update_time,
> > > > >  };
> > > > >  
> > > > > -static const struct inode_operations
> > > > > xfs_inline_symlink_inode_operations = {
> > > > > -       .get_link               = xfs_vn_get_link_inline,
> > > > > -       .getattr                = xfs_vn_getattr,
> > > > > -       .setattr                = xfs_vn_setattr,
> > > > > -       .listxattr              = xfs_vn_listxattr,
> > > > > -       .update_time            = xfs_vn_update_time,
> > > > > -};
> > > > > -
> > > > >  /* Figure out if this file actually supports DAX. */
> > > > >  static bool
> > > > >  xfs_inode_supports_dax(
> > > > > @@ -1409,9 +1380,8 @@ xfs_setup_iops(
> > > > >                 break;
> > > > >         case S_IFLNK:
> > > > >                 if (ip->i_df.if_format ==
> > > > > XFS_DINODE_FMT_LOCAL)
> > > > > -                       inode->i_op =
> > > > > &xfs_inline_symlink_inode_operations;
> > > > > -               else
> > > > > -                       inode->i_op =
> > > > > &xfs_symlink_inode_operations;
> > > > > +                       inode->i_link = ip-
> > > > > >i_df.if_u1.if_data;
> > > > > +               inode->i_op = &xfs_symlink_inode_operations;
> > > > 
> > > > This still needs corruption checks - ip->i_df.if_u1.if_data can
> > > > be
> > > > null if there's some kind of inode corruption detected.
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > It's fine for i_link to be NULL. We'd just fall into the
> > > get_link()
> > > call
> > > and have to handle it there like the current callback does.
> > > 
> > > However, this does need to restore some of the code removed from
> > > xfs_vn_get_link() in commit 30ee052e12b9 ("xfs: optimize inline
> > > symlinks") to handle the local format case. If if_data can be
> > > NULL
> > > we'll
> > > obviously need to handle it there anyways.
> > > 
> > > If there's no fundamental objection I'll address these issues,
> > > give
> > > it
> > > some proper testing and send a real patch..
> > > 
> > > Brian
> > > 
> > > > >                 break;
> > > > >         default:
> > > > >                 inode->i_op = &xfs_inode_operations;
> > > > > diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_symlink.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_symlink.c
> > > > > index fc2c6a404647..20ec2f450c56 100644
> > > > > --- a/fs/xfs/xfs_symlink.c
> > > > > +++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_symlink.c
> > > > > @@ -497,6 +497,7 @@ xfs_inactive_symlink(
> > > > >          * do here in that case.
> > > > >          */
> > > > >         if (ip->i_df.if_format == XFS_DINODE_FMT_LOCAL) {
> > > > > +               WRITE_ONCE(VFS_I(ip)->i_link, NULL);
> > > > 
> > > > Again, rcu_assign_pointer(), yes?
> > > > 
> > > > >                 xfs_iunlock(ip, XFS_ILOCK_EXCL);
> > > > >                 return 0;
> > > > >         }
> > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > -- 
> > > > Dave Chinner
> > > > david@fromorbit.com
> > > > 
> > > 
> > 
> >