writeback: Avoid skipping inode writeback
Inode's i_io_list list head is used to attach inode to several different lists - wb->{b_dirty, b_dirty_time, b_io, b_more_io}. When flush worker prepares a list of inodes to writeback e.g. for sync(2), it moves inodes to b_io list. Thus it is critical for sync(2) data integrity guarantees that inode is not requeued to any other writeback list when inode is queued for processing by flush worker. That's the reason why writeback_single_inode() does not touch i_io_list (unless the inode is completely clean) and why __mark_inode_dirty() does not touch i_io_list if I_SYNC flag is set. However there are two flaws in the current logic: 1) When inode has only I_DIRTY_TIME set but it is already queued in b_io list due to sync(2), concurrent __mark_inode_dirty(inode, I_DIRTY_SYNC) can still move inode back to b_dirty list resulting in skipping writeback of inode time stamps during sync(2). 2) When inode is on b_dirty_time list and writeback_single_inode() races with __mark_inode_dirty() like: writeback_single_inode() __mark_inode_dirty(inode, I_DIRTY_PAGES) inode->i_state |= I_SYNC __writeback_single_inode() inode->i_state |= I_DIRTY_PAGES; if (inode->i_state & I_SYNC) bail if (!(inode->i_state & I_DIRTY_ALL)) - not true so nothing done We end up with I_DIRTY_PAGES inode on b_dirty_time list and thus standard background writeback will not writeback this inode leading to possible dirty throttling stalls etc. (thanks to Martijn Coenen for this analysis). Fix these problems by tracking whether inode is queued in b_io or b_more_io lists in a new I_SYNC_QUEUED flag. When this flag is set, we know flush worker has queued inode and we should not touch i_io_list. On the other hand we also know that once flush worker is done with the inode it will requeue the inode to appropriate dirty list. When I_SYNC_QUEUED is not set, __mark_inode_dirty() can (and must) move inode to appropriate dirty list. Reported-by: Martijn Coenen <maco@android.com> Reviewed-by: Martijn Coenen <maco@android.com> Tested-by: Martijn Coenen <maco@android.com> Reviewed-by: Christoph Hellwig <hch@lst.de> Fixes: 0ae45f63 ("vfs: add support for a lazytime mount option") CC: stable@vger.kernel.org Signed-off-by: Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>