[patch] document that ext2 can't handle barriers

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From: Pavel Machek
Date: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 - 3:27 pm

Document things ext2 expects from storage filesystems, and the fact
that it can not handle barriers. Also remove jounaling description, as
that's really ext3 material.

Signed-off-by: Pavel Machek <pavel@ucw.cz>

diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/ext2.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/ext2.txt
index 67639f9..e300ca8 100644
--- a/Documentation/filesystems/ext2.txt
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/ext2.txt
@@ -338,27 +339,17 @@ enough 4-character names to make up unique directory entries, so they
 have to be 8 character filenames, even then we are fairly close to
 running out of unique filenames.
 
+Requirements
+============
+
+Ext2 expects disk/storage subsystem not to return write errors.
+
+It also needs write caching to be disabled for reliable fsync
+operation; ext2 does not know how to issue barriers as of
+2.6.31. hdparm -W0 disables it on SATA disks.
+
 Journaling
-----------
-
-A journaling extension to the ext2 code has been developed by Stephen
-Tweedie.  It avoids the risks of metadata corruption and the need to
-wait for e2fsck to complete after a crash, without requiring a change
-to the on-disk ext2 layout.  In a nutshell, the journal is a regular
-file which stores whole metadata (and optionally data) blocks that have
-been modified, prior to writing them into the filesystem.  This means
-it is possible to add a journal to an existing ext2 filesystem without
-the need for data conversion.
-
-When changes to the filesystem (e.g. a file is renamed) they are stored in
-a transaction in the journal and can either be complete or incomplete at
-the time of a crash.  If a transaction is complete at the time of a crash
-(or in the normal case where the system does not crash), then any blocks
-in that transaction are guaranteed to represent a valid filesystem state,
-and are copied into the filesystem.  If a transaction is incomplete at
-the time of the crash, then there is no guarantee of consistency for
-the blocks in that transaction so they are discarded (which means any
-filesystem changes they represent are also lost).
+==========
 Check Documentation/filesystems/ext3.txt if you want to read more about
 ext3 and journaling.
 

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Messages in current thread:
Re: ext2/3: document conditions when reliable operation is ..., Goswin von Brederlow, (Mon Mar 30, 8:06 am)
[patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Pavel Machek, (Tue Aug 25, 3:21 pm)
[patch] document that ext2 can't handle barriers, Pavel Machek, (Tue Aug 25, 3:27 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, david, (Tue Aug 25, 3:33 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Pavel Machek, (Tue Aug 25, 3:40 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, david, (Tue Aug 25, 3:59 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Pavel Machek, (Tue Aug 25, 4:37 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Ric Wheeler, (Tue Aug 25, 4:48 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, david, (Tue Aug 25, 4:56 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Pavel Machek, (Tue Aug 25, 5:06 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Pavel Machek, (Tue Aug 25, 5:12 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Ric Wheeler, (Tue Aug 25, 5:12 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, david, (Tue Aug 25, 5:20 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Pavel Machek, (Tue Aug 25, 5:20 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, david, (Tue Aug 25, 5:26 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Ric Wheeler, (Tue Aug 25, 5:26 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Ric Wheeler, (Tue Aug 25, 5:28 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Pavel Machek, (Tue Aug 25, 5:38 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Pavel Machek, (Tue Aug 25, 5:39 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Pavel Machek, (Tue Aug 25, 5:44 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Ric Wheeler, (Tue Aug 25, 5:45 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Ric Wheeler, (Tue Aug 25, 5:50 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, david, (Tue Aug 25, 6:17 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, david, (Tue Aug 25, 6:19 pm)
Re: [patch] ext2/3: document conditions when reliable oper ..., Henrique de Moraes H ..., (Tue Aug 25, 7:53 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Rik van Riel, (Tue Aug 25, 9:20 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Rik van Riel, (Tue Aug 25, 9:24 pm)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Pavel Machek, (Wed Aug 26, 4:21 am)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Pavel Machek, (Wed Aug 26, 4:22 am)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Pavel Machek, (Wed Aug 26, 4:25 am)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Ric Wheeler, (Wed Aug 26, 4:58 am)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Theodore Tso, (Wed Aug 26, 5:37 am)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Theodore Tso, (Wed Aug 26, 5:40 am)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Ric Wheeler, (Wed Aug 26, 6:11 am)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, david, (Wed Aug 26, 6:44 am)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Rik van Riel, (Wed Aug 26, 7:45 am)
Re: MD/DM and barriers (was Re: [patch] ext2/3: document c ..., Alasdair G Kergon, (Thu Aug 27, 11:09 am)
Re: raid is dangerous but that's secret, Florian Weimer, (Fri Aug 28, 12:11 am)
Re: raid is dangerous but that's secret, NeilBrown, (Fri Aug 28, 12:23 am)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Pavel Machek, (Sat Aug 29, 2:38 am)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Pavel Machek, (Sat Aug 29, 2:39 am)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Ron Johnson, (Sat Aug 29, 4:47 am)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, jim owens, (Sat Aug 29, 9:12 am)
Re: [patch] document flash/RAID dangers, Pavel Machek, (Sat Aug 29, 11:49 pm)
Re: raid is dangerous but that's secret (was Re: [patch] e ..., Christoph Hellwig, (Sun Aug 30, 9:35 am)
Re: raid is dangerous but that's secret (was Re: [patch] e ..., Christoph Hellwig, (Mon Aug 31, 6:16 am)
Re: raid is dangerous but that's secret (was Re: [patch] e ..., Christoph Hellwig, (Mon Aug 31, 6:21 am)
Re: raid is dangerous but that's secret (was Re: [patch] e ..., Jesse Brandeburg, (Mon Aug 31, 10:49 am)
Re: raid is dangerous but that's secret (was Re: [patch] e ..., Christoph Hellwig, (Mon Aug 31, 11:31 am)