The Linux Journalling API¶

Overview¶

Details¶

The journalling layer is easy to use. You need to first of all create a journal_t data structure. There are two calls to do this dependent on how you decide to allocate the physical media on which the journal resides. The jbd2_journal_init_inode() call is for journals stored in filesystem inodes, or the jbd2_journal_init_dev() call can be used for journal stored on a raw device (in a continuous range of blocks). A journal_t is a typedef for a struct pointer, so when you are finally finished make sure you call jbd2_journal_destroy() on it to free up any used kernel memory.

Once you have got your journal_t object you need to ‘mount’ or load the journal file. The journalling layer expects the space for the journal was already allocated and initialized properly by the userspace tools. When loading the journal you must call jbd2_journal_load() to process journal contents. If the client file system detects the journal contents does not need to be processed (or even need not have valid contents), it may call jbd2_journal_wipe() to clear the journal contents before calling jbd2_journal_load().

Note that jbd2_journal_wipe(..,0) calls jbd2_journal_skip_recovery() for you if it detects any outstanding transactions in the journal and similarly jbd2_journal_load() will call jbd2_journal_recover() if necessary. I would advise reading ext4_load_journal() in fs/ext4/super.c for examples on this stage.

Now you can go ahead and start modifying the underlying filesystem. Almost.

You still need to actually journal your filesystem changes, this is done by wrapping them into transactions. Additionally you also need to wrap the modification of each of the buffers with calls to the journal layer, so it knows what the modifications you are actually making are. To do this use jbd2_journal_start() which returns a transaction handle.

jbd2_journal_start() and its counterpart jbd2_journal_stop(), which indicates the end of a transaction are nestable calls, so you can reenter a transaction if necessary, but remember you must call jbd2_journal_stop() the same number of times as jbd2_journal_start() before the transaction is completed (or more accurately leaves the update phase). Ext4/VFS makes use of this feature to simplify handling of inode dirtying, quota support, etc.

Inside each transaction you need to wrap the modifications to the individual buffers (blocks). Before you start to modify a buffer you need to call jbd2_journal_get_create_access() / jbd2_journal_get_write_access() / jbd2_journal_get_undo_access() as appropriate, this allows the journalling layer to copy the unmodified data if it needs to. After all the buffer may be part of a previously uncommitted transaction. At this point you are at last ready to modify a buffer, and once you are have done so you need to call jbd2_journal_dirty_metadata(). Or if you’ve asked for access to a buffer you now know is now longer required to be pushed back on the device you can call jbd2_journal_forget() in much the same way as you might have used bforget() in the past.

A jbd2_journal_flush() may be called at any time to commit and checkpoint all your transactions.

Then at umount time , in your put_super() you can then call jbd2_journal_destroy() to clean up your in-core journal object.

Unfortunately there a couple of ways the journal layer can cause a deadlock. The first thing to note is that each task can only have a single outstanding transaction at any one time, remember nothing commits until the outermost jbd2_journal_stop(). This means you must complete the transaction at the end of each file/inode/address etc. operation you perform, so that the journalling system isn’t re-entered on another journal. Since transactions can’t be nested/batched across differing journals, and another filesystem other than yours (say ext4) may be modified in a later syscall.

The second case to bear in mind is that jbd2_journal_start() can block if there isn’t enough space in the journal for your transaction (based on the passed nblocks param) - when it blocks it merely(!) needs to wait for transactions to complete and be committed from other tasks, so essentially we are waiting for jbd2_journal_stop(). So to avoid deadlocks you must treat jbd2_journal_start() / jbd2_journal_stop() as if they were semaphores and include them in your semaphore ordering rules to prevent deadlocks. Note that jbd2_journal_extend() has similar blocking behaviour to jbd2_journal_start() so you can deadlock here just as easily as on jbd2_journal_start().

Try to reserve the right number of blocks the first time. ;-). This will be the maximum number of blocks you are going to touch in this transaction. I advise having a look at at least ext4_jbd.h to see the basis on which ext4 uses to make these decisions.

Another wriggle to watch out for is your on-disk block allocation strategy. Why? Because, if you do a delete, you need to ensure you haven’t reused any of the freed blocks until the transaction freeing these blocks commits. If you reused these blocks and crash happens, there is no way to restore the contents of the reallocated blocks at the end of the last fully committed transaction. One simple way of doing this is to mark blocks as free in internal in-memory block allocation structures only after the transaction freeing them commits. Ext4 uses journal commit callback for this purpose.

With journal commit callbacks you can ask the journalling layer to call a callback function when the transaction is finally committed to disk, so that you can do some of your own management. You ask the journalling layer for calling the callback by simply setting journal->j_commit_callback function pointer and that function is called after each transaction commit. You can also use transaction->t_private_list for attaching entries to a transaction that need processing when the transaction commits.

JBD2 also provides a way to block all transaction updates via jbd2_journal_lock_updates() / jbd2_journal_unlock_updates(). Ext4 uses this when it wants a window with a clean and stable fs for a moment. E.g.

jbd2_journal_lock_updates() //stop new stuff happening..
jbd2_journal_flush()        // checkpoint everything.
..do stuff on stable fs
jbd2_journal_unlock_updates() // carry on with filesystem use.

The opportunities for abuse and DOS attacks with this should be obvious, if you allow unprivileged userspace to trigger codepaths containing these calls.

Fast commits¶

JBD2 to also allows you to perform file-system specific delta commits known as fast commits. In order to use fast commits, you will need to set following callbacks that perform correspodning work:

journal->j_fc_cleanup_cb: Cleanup function called after every full commit and fast commit.

journal->j_fc_replay_cb: Replay function called for replay of fast commit blocks.

File system is free to perform fast commits as and when it wants as long as it gets permission from JBD2 to do so by calling the function jbd2_fc_begin_commit(). Once a fast commit is done, the client file system should tell JBD2 about it by calling jbd2_fc_end_commit(). If file system wants JBD2 to perform a full commit immediately after stopping the fast commit it can do so by calling jbd2_fc_end_commit_fallback(). This is useful if fast commit operation fails for some reason and the only way to guarantee consistency is for JBD2 to perform the full traditional commit.

JBD2 helper functions to manage fast commit buffers. File system can use jbd2_fc_get_buf() and jbd2_fc_wait_bufs() to allocate and wait on IO completion of fast commit buffers.

Currently, only Ext4 implements fast commits. For details of its implementation of fast commits, please refer to the top level comments in fs/ext4/fast_commit.c.

Summary¶

Using the journal is a matter of wrapping the different context changes, being each mount, each modification (transaction) and each changed buffer to tell the journalling layer about them.

Data Types¶

The journalling layer uses typedefs to ‘hide’ the concrete definitions of the structures used. As a client of the JBD2 layer you can just rely on the using the pointer as a magic cookie of some sort. Obviously the hiding is not enforced as this is ‘C’.

Structures¶

type handle_t¶: The handle_t type represents a single atomic update being performed by some process.

Description

All filesystem modifications made by the process go through this handle. Recursive operations (such as quota operations) are gathered into a single update.

The buffer credits field is used to account for journaled buffers being modified by the running process. To ensure that there is enough log space for all outstanding operations, we need to limit the number of outstanding buffers possible at any time. When the operation completes, any buffer credits not used are credited back to the transaction, so that at all times we know how many buffers the outstanding updates on a transaction might possibly touch.

This is an opaque datatype.

type journal_t¶: The journal_t maintains all of the journaling state information for a single filesystem.

Description

journal_t is linked to from the fs superblock structure.

We use the journal_t to keep track of all outstanding transaction activity on the filesystem, and to manage the state of the log writing process.

This is an opaque datatype.

struct jbd2_inode¶: The jbd_inode type is the structure linking inodes in ordered mode present in a transaction so that we can sync them during commit.

Definition:

struct jbd2_inode {
    transaction_t *i_transaction;
    transaction_t *i_next_transaction;
    struct list_head i_list;
    struct inode *i_vfs_inode;
    unsigned long i_flags;
    loff_t i_dirty_start;
    loff_t i_dirty_end;
};

Members

i_transaction: Which transaction does this inode belong to? Either the running transaction or the committing one. [j_list_lock]
i_next_transaction: Pointer to the running transaction modifying inode’s data in case there is already a committing transaction touching it. [j_list_lock]
i_list: List of inodes in the i_transaction [j_list_lock]
i_vfs_inode: VFS inode this inode belongs to [constant for lifetime of structure]
i_flags: Flags of inode [j_list_lock]
i_dirty_start: Offset in bytes where the dirty range for this inode starts. [j_list_lock]
i_dirty_end: Inclusive offset in bytes where the dirty range for this inode ends. [j_list_lock]

struct jbd2_journal_handle¶: The jbd2_journal_handle type is the concrete type associated with handle_t.

Definition:

struct jbd2_journal_handle {
    union {
        transaction_t *h_transaction;
        journal_t *h_journal;
    };
    handle_t *h_rsv_handle;
    int h_total_credits;
    int h_revoke_credits;
    int h_revoke_credits_requested;
    int h_ref;
    int h_err;
    unsigned int    h_sync:         1;
    unsigned int    h_jdata:        1;
    unsigned int    h_reserved:     1;
    unsigned int    h_aborted:      1;
    unsigned int    h_type:         8;
    unsigned int    h_line_no:      16;
    unsigned long           h_start_jiffies;
    unsigned int            h_requested_credits;
    unsigned int            saved_alloc_context;
};

Members

{unnamed_union}: anonymous
h_transaction: Which compound transaction is this update a part of?
h_journal: Which journal handle belongs to - used iff h_reserved set.
h_rsv_handle: Handle reserved for finishing the logical operation.
h_total_credits: Number of remaining buffers we are allowed to add to journal. These are dirty buffers and revoke descriptor blocks.
h_revoke_credits: Number of remaining revoke records available for handle
h_revoke_credits_requested: Holds h_revoke_credits after handle is started.
h_ref: Reference count on this handle.
h_err: Field for caller’s use to track errors through large fs operations.
h_sync: Flag for sync-on-close.
h_jdata: Flag to force data journaling.
h_reserved: Flag for handle for reserved credits.
h_aborted: Flag indicating fatal error on handle.
h_type: For handle statistics.
h_line_no: For handle statistics.
h_start_jiffies: Handle Start time.
h_requested_credits: Holds h_total_credits after handle is started.
saved_alloc_context: Saved context while transaction is open.

struct journal_s¶: The journal_s type is the concrete type associated with journal_t.

Definition:

struct journal_s {
    unsigned long           j_flags;
    int j_errno;
    struct mutex            j_abort_mutex;
    struct buffer_head      *j_sb_buffer;
    journal_superblock_t *j_superblock;
    rwlock_t j_state_lock;
    int j_barrier_count;
    struct mutex            j_barrier;
    transaction_t *j_running_transaction;
    transaction_t *j_committing_transaction;
    transaction_t *j_checkpoint_transactions;
    wait_queue_head_t j_wait_transaction_locked;
    wait_queue_head_t j_wait_done_commit;
    wait_queue_head_t j_wait_commit;
    wait_queue_head_t j_wait_updates;
    wait_queue_head_t j_wait_reserved;
    wait_queue_head_t j_fc_wait;
    struct mutex            j_checkpoint_mutex;
    struct buffer_head      *j_chkpt_bhs[JBD2_NR_BATCH];
    struct shrinker         *j_shrinker;
    struct percpu_counter   j_checkpoint_jh_count;
    transaction_t *j_shrink_transaction;
    unsigned long           j_head;
    unsigned long           j_tail;
    unsigned long           j_free;
    unsigned long           j_first;
    unsigned long           j_last;
    unsigned long           j_fc_first;
    unsigned long           j_fc_off;
    unsigned long           j_fc_last;
    struct block_device     *j_dev;
    int j_blocksize;
    unsigned long long      j_blk_offset;
    char j_devname[BDEVNAME_SIZE+24];
    struct block_device     *j_fs_dev;
    errseq_t j_fs_dev_wb_err;
    unsigned int            j_total_len;
    atomic_t j_reserved_credits;
    spinlock_t j_list_lock;
    struct inode            *j_inode;
    tid_t j_tail_sequence;
    tid_t j_transaction_sequence;
    tid_t j_commit_sequence;
    tid_t j_commit_request;
    __u8 j_uuid[16];
    struct task_struct      *j_task;
    int j_max_transaction_buffers;
    int j_revoke_records_per_block;
    unsigned long           j_commit_interval;
    struct timer_list       j_commit_timer;
    spinlock_t j_revoke_lock;
    struct jbd2_revoke_table_s *j_revoke;
    struct jbd2_revoke_table_s *j_revoke_table[2];
    struct buffer_head      **j_wbuf;
    struct buffer_head      **j_fc_wbuf;
    int j_wbufsize;
    int j_fc_wbufsize;
    pid_t j_last_sync_writer;
    u64 j_average_commit_time;
    u32 j_min_batch_time;
    u32 j_max_batch_time;
    void (*j_commit_callback)(journal_t *, transaction_t *);
    int (*j_submit_inode_data_buffers) (struct jbd2_inode *);
    int (*j_finish_inode_data_buffers) (struct jbd2_inode *);
    spinlock_t j_history_lock;
    struct proc_dir_entry   *j_proc_entry;
    struct transaction_stats_s j_stats;
    unsigned int            j_failed_commit;
    void *j_private;
    struct crypto_shash *j_chksum_driver;
    __u32 j_csum_seed;
#ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_LOCK_ALLOC;
    struct lockdep_map      j_trans_commit_map;
#endif;
    void (*j_fc_cleanup_callback)(struct journal_s *journal, int full, tid_t tid);
    int (*j_fc_replay_callback)(struct journal_s *journal,struct buffer_head *bh,enum passtype pass, int off, tid_t expected_commit_id);
    int (*j_bmap)(struct journal_s *journal, sector_t *block);
};

Members

j_flags: General journaling state flags [j_state_lock, no lock for quick racy checks]
j_errno: Is there an outstanding uncleared error on the journal (from a prior abort)? [j_state_lock]
j_abort_mutex: Lock the whole aborting procedure.
j_sb_buffer: The first part of the superblock buffer.
j_superblock: The second part of the superblock buffer.
j_state_lock: Protect the various scalars in the journal.
j_barrier_count: Number of processes waiting to create a barrier lock [j_state_lock, no lock for quick racy checks]
j_barrier: The barrier lock itself.
j_running_transaction: Transactions: The current running transaction... [j_state_lock, no lock for quick racy checks] [caller holding open handle]
j_committing_transaction: the transaction we are pushing to disk [j_state_lock] [caller holding open handle]
j_checkpoint_transactions: ... and a linked circular list of all transactions waiting for checkpointing. [j_list_lock]
j_wait_transaction_locked: Wait queue for waiting for a locked transaction to start committing, or for a barrier lock to be released.
j_wait_done_commit: Wait queue for waiting for commit to complete.
j_wait_commit: Wait queue to trigger commit.
j_wait_updates: Wait queue to wait for updates to complete.
j_wait_reserved: Wait queue to wait for reserved buffer credits to drop.
j_fc_wait: Wait queue to wait for completion of async fast commits.
j_checkpoint_mutex: Semaphore for locking against concurrent checkpoints.
j_chkpt_bhs: List of buffer heads used by the checkpoint routine. This was moved from jbd2_log_do_checkpoint() to reduce stack usage. Access to this array is controlled by the j_checkpoint_mutex. [j_checkpoint_mutex]
j_shrinker: Journal head shrinker, reclaim buffer’s journal head which has been written back.
j_checkpoint_jh_count: Number of journal buffers on the checkpoint list. [j_list_lock]
j_shrink_transaction: Record next transaction will shrink on the checkpoint list. [j_list_lock]
j_head: Journal head: identifies the first unused block in the journal. [j_state_lock]
j_tail: Journal tail: identifies the oldest still-used block in the journal. [j_state_lock]
j_free: Journal free: how many free blocks are there in the journal? [j_state_lock]
j_first: The block number of the first usable block in the journal [j_state_lock].
j_last: The block number one beyond the last usable block in the journal [j_state_lock].
j_fc_first: The block number of the first fast commit block in the journal [j_state_lock].
j_fc_off: Number of fast commit blocks currently allocated. Accessed only during fast commit. Currently only process can do fast commit, so this field is not protected by any lock.
j_fc_last: The block number one beyond the last fast commit block in the journal [j_state_lock].
j_dev: Device where we store the journal.
j_blocksize: Block size for the location where we store the journal.
j_blk_offset: Starting block offset into the device where we store the journal.
j_devname: Journal device name.
j_fs_dev: Device which holds the client fs. For internal journal this will be equal to j_dev.
j_fs_dev_wb_err: Records the errseq of the client fs’s backing block device.
j_total_len: Total maximum capacity of the journal region on disk.
j_reserved_credits: Number of buffers reserved from the running transaction.
j_list_lock: Protects the buffer lists and internal buffer state.
j_inode: Optional inode where we store the journal. If present, all journal block numbers are mapped into this inode via bmap().
j_tail_sequence: Sequence number of the oldest transaction in the log [j_state_lock]
j_transaction_sequence: Sequence number of the next transaction to grant [j_state_lock]
j_commit_sequence: Sequence number of the most recently committed transaction [j_state_lock, no lock for quick racy checks]
j_commit_request: Sequence number of the most recent transaction wanting commit [j_state_lock, no lock for quick racy checks]
j_uuid: Journal uuid: identifies the object (filesystem, LVM volume etc) backed by this journal. This will eventually be replaced by an array of uuids, allowing us to index multiple devices within a single journal and to perform atomic updates across them.
j_task: Pointer to the current commit thread for this journal.
j_max_transaction_buffers: Maximum number of metadata buffers to allow in a single compound commit transaction.
j_revoke_records_per_block: Number of revoke records that fit in one descriptor block.
j_commit_interval: What is the maximum transaction lifetime before we begin a commit?
j_commit_timer: The timer used to wakeup the commit thread.
j_revoke_lock: Protect the revoke table.
j_revoke: The revoke table - maintains the list of revoked blocks in the current transaction.
j_revoke_table: Alternate revoke tables for j_revoke.
j_wbuf: Array of bhs for jbd2_journal_commit_transaction.
j_fc_wbuf: Array of fast commit bhs for fast commit. Accessed only during a fast commit. Currently only process can do fast commit, so this field is not protected by any lock.
j_wbufsize: Size of j_wbuf array.
j_fc_wbufsize: Size of j_fc_wbuf array.
j_last_sync_writer: The pid of the last person to run a synchronous operation through the journal.
j_average_commit_time: The average amount of time in nanoseconds it takes to commit a transaction to disk. [j_state_lock]
j_min_batch_time: Minimum time that we should wait for additional filesystem operations to get batched into a synchronous handle in microseconds.
j_max_batch_time: Maximum time that we should wait for additional filesystem operations to get batched into a synchronous handle in microseconds.
j_commit_callback: This function is called when a transaction is closed.
j_submit_inode_data_buffers: This function is called for all inodes associated with the committing transaction marked with JI_WRITE_DATA flag before we start to write out the transaction to the journal.
j_finish_inode_data_buffers: This function is called for all inodes associated with the committing transaction marked with JI_WAIT_DATA flag after we have written the transaction to the journal but before we write out the commit block.
j_history_lock: Protect the transactions statistics history.
j_proc_entry: procfs entry for the jbd statistics directory.
j_stats: Overall statistics.
j_failed_commit: Failed journal commit ID.
j_private: An opaque pointer to fs-private information. ext3 puts its superblock pointer here.
j_chksum_driver: Reference to checksum algorithm driver via cryptoapi.
j_csum_seed: Precomputed journal UUID checksum for seeding other checksums.
j_trans_commit_map: Lockdep entity to track transaction commit dependencies. Handles hold this “lock” for read, when we wait for commit, we acquire the “lock” for writing. This matches the properties of jbd2 journalling where the running transaction has to wait for all handles to be dropped to commit that transaction and also acquiring a handle may require transaction commit to finish.
j_fc_cleanup_callback: Clean-up after fast commit or full commit. JBD2 calls this function after every commit operation.
j_fc_replay_callback: File-system specific function that performs replay of a fast commit. JBD2 calls this function for each fast commit block found in the journal. This function should return JBD2_FC_REPLAY_CONTINUE to indicate that the block was processed correctly and more fast commit replay should continue. Return value of JBD2_FC_REPLAY_STOP indicates the end of replay (no more blocks remaining). A negative return value indicates error.
j_bmap: Bmap function that should be used instead of the generic VFS bmap function.

Functions¶

The functions here are split into two groups those that affect a journal as a whole, and those which are used to manage transactions

Journal Level¶

int jbd2_journal_force_commit_nested(journal_t *journal)¶: Force and wait upon a commit if the calling process is not within transaction.

Parameters

journal_t *journal: journal to force Returns true if progress was made.

Description

This is used for forcing out undo-protected data which contains bitmaps, when the fs is running out of space.

int jbd2_journal_force_commit(journal_t *journal)¶: force any uncommitted transactions

Parameters

journal_t *journal: journal to force

Description

Caller want unconditional commit. We can only force the running transaction if we don’t have an active handle, otherwise, we will deadlock.

journal_t *jbd2_journal_init_dev(struct block_device *bdev, struct block_device *fs_dev, unsigned long long start, int len, int blocksize)¶: creates and initialises a journal structure

Parameters

struct block_device *bdev: Block device on which to create the journal
struct block_device *fs_dev: Device which hold journalled filesystem for this journal.
unsigned long long start: Block nr Start of journal.
int len: Length of the journal in blocks.
int blocksize: blocksize of journalling device

Return

a newly created journal_t *

jbd2_journal_init_dev creates a journal which maps a fixed contiguous range of blocks on an arbitrary block device.

journal_t *jbd2_journal_init_inode(struct inode *inode)¶: creates a journal which maps to a inode.

Parameters

struct inode *inode: An inode to create the journal in

Description

jbd2_journal_init_inode creates a journal which maps an on-disk inode as the journal. The inode must exist already, must support bmap() and must have all data blocks preallocated.

void jbd2_journal_update_sb_errno(journal_t *journal)¶: Update error in the journal.

Parameters

journal_t *journal: The journal to update.

Description

Update a journal’s errno. Write updated superblock to disk waiting for IO to complete.

int jbd2_journal_load(journal_t *journal)¶: Read journal from disk.

Parameters

journal_t *journal: Journal to act on.

Description

Given a journal_t structure which tells us which disk blocks contain a journal, read the journal from disk to initialise the in-memory structures.

int jbd2_journal_destroy(journal_t *journal)¶: Release a journal_t structure.

Parameters

journal_t *journal: Journal to act on.

Description

Release a journal_t structure once it is no longer in use by the journaled object. Return <0 if we couldn’t clean up the journal.

int jbd2_journal_check_used_features(journal_t *journal, unsigned long compat, unsigned long ro, unsigned long incompat)¶: Check if features specified are used.

Parameters

journal_t *journal: Journal to check.
unsigned long compat: bitmask of compatible features
unsigned long ro: bitmask of features that force read-only mount
unsigned long incompat: bitmask of incompatible features

Description

Check whether the journal uses all of a given set of features. Return true (non-zero) if it does.

int jbd2_journal_check_available_features(journal_t *journal, unsigned long compat, unsigned long ro, unsigned long incompat)¶: Check feature set in journalling layer

Parameters

journal_t *journal: Journal to check.
unsigned long compat: bitmask of compatible features
unsigned long ro: bitmask of features that force read-only mount
unsigned long incompat: bitmask of incompatible features

Description

Check whether the journaling code supports the use of all of a given set of features on this journal. Return true

int jbd2_journal_set_features(journal_t *journal, unsigned long compat, unsigned long ro, unsigned long incompat)¶: Mark a given journal feature in the superblock

Parameters

journal_t *journal: Journal to act on.
unsigned long compat: bitmask of compatible features
unsigned long ro: bitmask of features that force read-only mount
unsigned long incompat: bitmask of incompatible features

Description

Mark a given journal feature as present on the superblock. Returns true if the requested features could be set.

int jbd2_journal_flush(journal_t *journal, unsigned int flags)¶: Flush journal

Parameters

journal_t *journal: Journal to act on.
unsigned int flags: optional operation on the journal blocks after the flush (see below)

Description

Flush all data for a given journal to disk and empty the journal. Filesystems can use this when remounting readonly to ensure that recovery does not need to happen on remount. Optionally, a discard or zeroout can be issued on the journal blocks after flushing.

flags:: JBD2_JOURNAL_FLUSH_DISCARD: issues discards for the journal blocks JBD2_JOURNAL_FLUSH_ZEROOUT: issues zeroouts for the journal blocks

int jbd2_journal_wipe(journal_t *journal, int write)¶: Wipe journal contents

Parameters

journal_t *journal: Journal to act on.
int write: flag (see below)

Description

Wipe out all of the contents of a journal, safely. This will produce a warning if the journal contains any valid recovery information. Must be called between journal_init_*() and jbd2_journal_load().

If ‘write’ is non-zero, then we wipe out the journal on disk; otherwise we merely suppress recovery.

void jbd2_journal_abort(journal_t *journal, int errno)¶: Shutdown the journal immediately.

Parameters

journal_t *journal: the journal to shutdown.
int errno: an error number to record in the journal indicating the reason for the shutdown.

Description

Perform a complete, immediate shutdown of the ENTIRE journal (not of a single transaction). This operation cannot be undone without closing and reopening the journal.

The jbd2_journal_abort function is intended to support higher level error recovery mechanisms such as the ext2/ext3 remount-readonly error mode.

Journal abort has very specific semantics. Any existing dirty, unjournaled buffers in the main filesystem will still be written to disk by bdflush, but the journaling mechanism will be suspended immediately and no further transaction commits will be honoured.

Any dirty, journaled buffers will be written back to disk without hitting the journal. Atomicity cannot be guaranteed on an aborted filesystem, but we _do_ attempt to leave as much data as possible behind for fsck to use for cleanup.

Any attempt to get a new transaction handle on a journal which is in ABORT state will just result in an -EROFS error return. A jbd2_journal_stop on an existing handle will return -EIO if we have entered abort state during the update.

Recursive transactions are not disturbed by journal abort until the final jbd2_journal_stop, which will receive the -EIO error.

Finally, the jbd2_journal_abort call allows the caller to supply an errno which will be recorded (if possible) in the journal superblock. This allows a client to record failure conditions in the middle of a transaction without having to complete the transaction to record the failure to disk. ext3_error, for example, now uses this functionality.

int jbd2_journal_errno(journal_t *journal)¶: returns the journal’s error state.

Parameters

journal_t *journal: journal to examine.

Description

This is the errno number set with jbd2_journal_abort(), the last time the journal was mounted - if the journal was stopped without calling abort this will be 0.

If the journal has been aborted on this mount time -EROFS will be returned.

int jbd2_journal_clear_err(journal_t *journal)¶: clears the journal’s error state

Parameters

journal_t *journal: journal to act on.

Description

An error must be cleared or acked to take a FS out of readonly mode.

void jbd2_journal_ack_err(journal_t *journal)¶: Ack journal err.

Parameters

journal_t *journal: journal to act on.

Description

An error must be cleared or acked to take a FS out of readonly mode.

int jbd2_journal_recover(journal_t *journal)¶: recovers a on-disk journal

Parameters

journal_t *journal: the journal to recover

Description

The primary function for recovering the log contents when mounting a journaled device.

Recovery is done in three passes. In the first pass, we look for the end of the log. In the second, we assemble the list of revoke blocks. In the third and final pass, we replay any un-revoked blocks in the log.

int jbd2_journal_skip_recovery(journal_t *journal)¶: Start journal and wipe exiting records

Parameters

journal_t *journal: journal to startup

Description

Locate any valid recovery information from the journal and set up the journal structures in memory to ignore it (presumably because the caller has evidence that it is out of date). This function doesn’t appear to be exported..

We perform one pass over the journal to allow us to tell the user how much recovery information is being erased, and to let us initialise the journal transaction sequence numbers to the next unused ID.

Transasction Level¶

handle_t *jbd2_journal_start(journal_t *journal, int nblocks)¶: Obtain a new handle.

Parameters

journal_t *journal: Journal to start transaction on.
int nblocks: number of block buffer we might modify

Description

We make sure that the transaction can guarantee at least nblocks of modified buffers in the log. We block until the log can guarantee that much space. Additionally, if rsv_blocks > 0, we also create another handle with rsv_blocks reserved blocks in the journal. This handle is stored in h_rsv_handle. It is not attached to any particular transaction and thus doesn’t block transaction commit. If the caller uses this reserved handle, it has to set h_rsv_handle to NULL as otherwise jbd2_journal_stop() on the parent handle will dispose the reserved one. Reserved handle has to be converted to a normal handle using jbd2_journal_start_reserved() before it can be used.

Return a pointer to a newly allocated handle, or an ERR_PTR() value on failure.

int jbd2_journal_start_reserved(handle_t *handle, unsigned int type, unsigned int line_no)¶: start reserved handle

Parameters

handle_t *handle: handle to start
unsigned int type: for handle statistics
unsigned int line_no: for handle statistics

Description

Start handle that has been previously reserved with jbd2_journal_reserve(). This attaches handle to the running transaction (or creates one if there’s not transaction running). Unlike jbd2_journal_start() this function cannot block on journal commit, checkpointing, or similar stuff. It can block on memory allocation or frozen journal though.

Return 0 on success, non-zero on error - handle is freed in that case.

int jbd2_journal_extend(handle_t *handle, int nblocks, int revoke_records)¶: extend buffer credits.

Parameters

handle_t *handle: handle to ‘extend’
int nblocks: nr blocks to try to extend by.
int revoke_records: number of revoke records to try to extend by.

Description

Some transactions, such as large extends and truncates, can be done atomically all at once or in several stages. The operation requests a credit for a number of buffer modifications in advance, but can extend its credit if it needs more.

jbd2_journal_extend tries to give the running handle more buffer credits. It does not guarantee that allocation - this is a best-effort only. The calling process MUST be able to deal cleanly with a failure to extend here.

Return 0 on success, non-zero on failure.

return code < 0 implies an error return code > 0 implies normal transaction-full status.

int jbd2__journal_restart(handle_t *handle, int nblocks, int revoke_records, gfp_t gfp_mask)¶: restart a handle .

Parameters

handle_t *handle: handle to restart
int nblocks: nr credits requested
int revoke_records: number of revoke record credits requested
gfp_t gfp_mask: memory allocation flags (for start_this_handle)

Description

Restart a handle for a multi-transaction filesystem operation.

If the jbd2_journal_extend() call above fails to grant new buffer credits to a running handle, a call to jbd2_journal_restart will commit the handle’s transaction so far and reattach the handle to a new transaction capable of guaranteeing the requested number of credits. We preserve reserved handle if there’s any attached to the passed in handle.

void jbd2_journal_lock_updates(journal_t *journal)¶: establish a transaction barrier.

Parameters

journal_t *journal: Journal to establish a barrier on.

Description

This locks out any further updates from being started, and blocks until all existing updates have completed, returning only once the journal is in a quiescent state with no updates running.

The journal lock should not be held on entry.

void jbd2_journal_unlock_updates(journal_t *journal)¶: release barrier

Parameters

journal_t *journal: Journal to release the barrier on.

Description

Release a transaction barrier obtained with jbd2_journal_lock_updates().

Should be called without the journal lock held.

int jbd2_journal_get_write_access(handle_t *handle, struct buffer_head *bh)¶: notify intent to modify a buffer for metadata (not data) update.

Parameters

handle_t *handle: transaction to add buffer modifications to
struct buffer_head *bh: bh to be used for metadata writes

Return

error code or 0 on success.

Description

In full data journalling mode the buffer may be of type BJ_AsyncData, because we’re write()ing a buffer which is also part of a shared mapping.

int jbd2_journal_get_create_access(handle_t *handle, struct buffer_head *bh)¶: notify intent to use newly created bh

Parameters

handle_t *handle: transaction to new buffer to
struct buffer_head *bh: new buffer.

Description

Call this if you create a new bh.

int jbd2_journal_get_undo_access(handle_t *handle, struct buffer_head *bh)¶: Notify intent to modify metadata with non-rewindable consequences

Parameters

handle_t *handle: transaction
struct buffer_head *bh: buffer to undo

Description

Sometimes there is a need to distinguish between metadata which has been committed to disk and that which has not. The ext3fs code uses this for freeing and allocating space, we have to make sure that we do not reuse freed space until the deallocation has been committed, since if we overwrote that space we would make the delete un-rewindable in case of a crash.

To deal with that, jbd2_journal_get_undo_access requests write access to a buffer for parts of non-rewindable operations such as delete operations on the bitmaps. The journaling code must keep a copy of the buffer’s contents prior to the undo_access call until such time as we know that the buffer has definitely been committed to disk.

We never need to know which transaction the committed data is part of, buffers touched here are guaranteed to be dirtied later and so will be committed to a new transaction in due course, at which point we can discard the old committed data pointer.

Returns error number or 0 on success.

void jbd2_journal_set_triggers(struct buffer_head *bh, struct jbd2_buffer_trigger_type *type)¶: Add triggers for commit writeout

Parameters

struct buffer_head *bh: buffer to trigger on
struct jbd2_buffer_trigger_type *type: struct jbd2_buffer_trigger_type containing the trigger(s).

Description

Set any triggers on this journal_head. This is always safe, because triggers for a committing buffer will be saved off, and triggers for a running transaction will match the buffer in that transaction.

Call with NULL to clear the triggers.

int jbd2_journal_dirty_metadata(handle_t *handle, struct buffer_head *bh)¶: mark a buffer as containing dirty metadata

Parameters

handle_t *handle: transaction to add buffer to.
struct buffer_head *bh: buffer to mark

Description

mark dirty metadata which needs to be journaled as part of the current transaction.

The buffer must have previously had jbd2_journal_get_write_access() called so that it has a valid journal_head attached to the buffer head.

The buffer is placed on the transaction’s metadata list and is marked as belonging to the transaction.

Returns error number or 0 on success.

Special care needs to be taken if the buffer already belongs to the current committing transaction (in which case we should have frozen data present for that commit). In that case, we don’t relink the buffer: that only gets done when the old transaction finally completes its commit.

int jbd2_journal_forget(handle_t *handle, struct buffer_head *bh)¶: bforget() for potentially-journaled buffers.

Parameters

handle_t *handle: transaction handle
struct buffer_head *bh: bh to ‘forget’

Description

We can only do the bforget if there are no commits pending against the buffer. If the buffer is dirty in the current running transaction we can safely unlink it.

bh may not be a journalled buffer at all - it may be a non-JBD buffer which came off the hashtable. Check for this.

Decrements bh->b_count by one.

Allow this call even if the handle has aborted --- it may be part of the caller’s cleanup after an abort.

int jbd2_journal_stop(handle_t *handle)¶: complete a transaction

Parameters

handle_t *handle: transaction to complete.

Description

All done for a particular handle.

There is not much action needed here. We just return any remaining buffer credits to the transaction and remove the handle. The only complication is that we need to start a commit operation if the filesystem is marked for synchronous update.

jbd2_journal_stop itself will not usually return an error, but it may do so in unusual circumstances. In particular, expect it to return -EIO if a jbd2_journal_abort has been executed since the transaction began.

bool jbd2_journal_try_to_free_buffers(journal_t *journal, struct folio *folio)¶: try to free page buffers.

Parameters

journal_t *journal: journal for operation
struct folio *folio: Folio to detach data from.

Description

For all the buffers on this page, if they are fully written out ordered data, move them onto BUF_CLEAN so try_to_free_buffers() can reap them.

This function returns non-zero if we wish try_to_free_buffers() to be called. We do this if the page is releasable by try_to_free_buffers(). We also do it if the page has locked or dirty buffers and the caller wants us to perform sync or async writeout.

This complicates JBD locking somewhat. We aren’t protected by the BKL here. We wish to remove the buffer from its committing or running transaction’s ->t_datalist via __jbd2_journal_unfile_buffer.

This may change the value of transaction_t->t_datalist, so anyone who looks at t_datalist needs to lock against this function.

Even worse, someone may be doing a jbd2_journal_dirty_data on this buffer. So we need to lock against that. jbd2_journal_dirty_data() will come out of the lock with the buffer dirty, which makes it ineligible for release here.

Who else is affected by this? hmm... Really the only contender is do_get_write_access() - it could be looking at the buffer while journal_try_to_free_buffer() is changing its state. But that cannot happen because we never reallocate freed data as metadata while the data is part of a transaction. Yes?

Return false on failure, true on success

int jbd2_journal_invalidate_folio(journal_t *journal, struct folio *folio, size_t offset, size_t length)¶

Parameters

journal_t *journal: journal to use for flush...
struct folio *folio: folio to flush
size_t offset: start of the range to invalidate
size_t length: length of the range to invalidate

Description

Reap page buffers containing data after in the specified range in page. Can return -EBUSY if buffers are part of the committing transaction and the page is straddling i_size. Caller then has to wait for current commit and try again.

The Linux Kernel

Contents

This Page

The Linux Journalling API¶

Overview¶

Details¶

Fast commits¶

Summary¶

Data Types¶

Structures¶

Functions¶

Journal Level¶

Transasction Level¶

See also¶