Re: precise characterization of ext3 atomicity

From: Hans Reiser
Date: Thu Sep 04 2003 - 16:07:42 EST


Mike Fedyk wrote:

On Thu, Sep 04, 2003 at 10:37:10PM +0400, Hans Reiser wrote:


Mike Fedyk wrote:



On Thu, Sep 04, 2003 at 08:25:18PM +0400, Hans Reiser wrote:




In data=journal and data=ordered modes ext3 also guarantees that the metadata will be committed atomically with the data they point to. However ext3 does not provide user data atomicity guarantees beyond the scope of a single filesystem disk block (usually 4 kilobytes). If a single write() spans two disk blocks it is possible that a crash partway through the write will result in only one of those blocks appearing in the file after recovery.




And how does reiser4 do this without changing the userspace apps?



We don't. We just make the hovercraft, we don't force you to go over the water.....



So by default with no user space modifications, reiser4 will be atomic for
each write() call, and ext3 will if it aligns withing a single page.

Is that correct?

Yes.


Then you can go on to specify that you can have larger transactions if you
make some changes to the userspace apps.




or you are a programmer who writes code....;-) It's not that hard to write code....;-)

--
Hans


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