linux/Documentation
Lukas Czerner bfff68738f ext4: add support for lazy inode table initialization
When the lazy_itable_init extended option is passed to mke2fs, it
considerably speeds up filesystem creation because inode tables are
not zeroed out.  The fact that parts of the inode table are
uninitialized is not a problem so long as the block group descriptors,
which contain information regarding how much of the inode table has
been initialized, has not been corrupted However, if the block group
checksums are not valid, e2fsck must scan the entire inode table, and
the the old, uninitialized data could potentially cause e2fsck to
report false problems.

Hence, it is important for the inode tables to be initialized as soon
as possble.  This commit adds this feature so that mke2fs can safely
use the lazy inode table initialization feature to speed up formatting
file systems.

This is done via a new new kernel thread called ext4lazyinit, which is
created on demand and destroyed, when it is no longer needed.  There
is only one thread for all ext4 filesystems in the system. When the
first filesystem with inititable mount option is mounted, ext4lazyinit
thread is created, then the filesystem can register its request in the
request list.

This thread then walks through the list of requests picking up
scheduled requests and invoking ext4_init_inode_table(). Next schedule
time for the request is computed by multiplying the time it took to
zero out last inode table with wait multiplier, which can be set with
the (init_itable=n) mount option (default is 10).  We are doing
this so we do not take the whole I/O bandwidth. When the thread is no
longer necessary (request list is empty) it frees the appropriate
structures and exits (and can be created later later by another
filesystem).

We do not disturb regular inode allocations in any way, it just do not
care whether the inode table is, or is not zeroed. But when zeroing, we
have to skip used inodes, obviously. Also we should prevent new inode
allocations from the group, while zeroing is on the way. For that we
take write alloc_sem lock in ext4_init_inode_table() and read alloc_sem
in the ext4_claim_inode, so when we are unlucky and allocator hits the
group which is currently being zeroed, it just has to wait.

This can be suppresed using the mount option no_init_itable.

Signed-off-by: Lukas Czerner <lczerner@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: "Theodore Ts'o" <tytso@mit.edu>
2010-10-27 21:30:05 -04:00
..
ABI USB: gadget: storage: optional SCSI WRITE FUA bit 2010-08-10 14:35:42 -07:00
accounting Documentation/: fix warnings from -Wmissing-prototypes in HOSTCFLAGS 2009-09-23 07:39:28 -07:00
acpi ACPI: introduce module parameter acpi.aml_debug_output 2010-08-14 23:02:14 -04:00
aoe Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
arm Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
auxdisplay includecheck fix: Documentation, cfag12864b-example.c 2009-09-24 07:20:57 -07:00
blackfin Blackfin: document SPI CS limitations with CPHA=0 2010-08-06 12:55:52 -04:00
block cfq-iosched: Documentation help for new tunables 2010-08-23 12:25:29 +02:00
blockdev Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
cdrom Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
cgroups cfq-iosched: Documentation help for new tunables 2010-08-23 12:25:29 +02:00
connector Documentation/: it's -> its where appropriate 2010-04-23 02:09:52 +02:00
console doc: fix console doc typo 2010-02-24 13:51:32 +01:00
cpu-freq [CPUFREQ] Processor Clocking Control interface driver 2010-01-13 10:55:16 -05:00
cpuidle
cris
crypto async_tx: add support for asynchronous RAID6 recovery operations 2009-08-29 19:09:27 -07:00
development-process Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
device-mapper Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
DocBook docbook: skip files with no docs since they generate scary warnings 2010-09-11 16:49:21 -07:00
driver-model Fix spelling of 'platform' in comments and doc 2010-02-05 12:22:34 +01:00
dvb Merge branch 'for-next' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jikos/trivial 2010-08-04 15:31:02 -07:00
early-userspace
fault-injection lkdtm: add debugfs access and loosen KPROBE ties 2010-03-06 11:26:32 -08:00
fb Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
filesystems ext4: add support for lazy inode table initialization 2010-10-27 21:30:05 -04:00
firmware_class firmware: Update hotplug script 2010-08-05 13:53:34 -07:00
frv
hwmon hwmon: (adm1031) Replace update_rate sysfs attribute with update_interval 2010-09-17 17:24:14 +02:00
i2c i2c: Add support for custom probe function 2010-08-11 18:20:56 +02:00
i2o
ia64 Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
ide ide: preserve Host Protected Area by default (v2) 2009-06-07 13:52:52 +02:00
infiniband Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
input Merge branch 'for-next' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jikos/trivial 2010-08-04 15:31:02 -07:00
ioctl Merge branch 'for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/ieee1394/linux1394-2.6 2010-08-07 17:09:24 -07:00
isdn Merge branch 'for-next' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jikos/trivial 2010-08-04 15:31:02 -07:00
ja_JP Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
kbuild kbuild: drop unifdef-y support 2010-08-14 22:26:52 +02:00
kdump trivial: Miscellaneous documentation typo fixes 2009-06-12 18:01:47 +02:00
ko_KR Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
kvm KVM: Document KVM_GET_SUPPORTED_CPUID2 ioctl 2010-08-02 06:40:50 +03:00
laptops thinkpad-acpi: untangle ACPI/vendor backlight selection 2010-08-16 11:54:50 -04:00
lguest lguest: clean up warnings in demonstration launcher. 2010-08-27 08:39:51 +09:30
m68k
make
mips ide: remove unused CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE_AU1XXX_SEQTS_PER_RQ 2009-01-14 19:19:03 +01:00
misc-devices Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
mmc mmc: add erase, secure erase, trim and secure trim operations 2010-08-12 08:43:30 -07:00
mn10300 trivial: Miscellaneous documentation typo fixes 2009-06-12 18:01:47 +02:00
mtd Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
namespaces
netlabel Documentation/: it's -> its where appropriate 2010-04-23 02:09:52 +02:00
networking Documentation/networking/wavelan.txt: deleted, not in tree 2010-08-11 08:59:18 -07:00
parisc
PCI Documentation: pci.txt: fix typo 2010-07-11 22:17:45 +02:00
pcmcia pcmcia: do not use io_req_t when calling pcmcia_request_io() 2010-08-03 09:04:11 +02:00
power regulator: Update e-mail address for Liam Girdwood 2010-09-01 12:59:34 +01:00
powerpc Documentation: fix ozlabs.org mailing list address 2010-08-20 09:55:41 -07:00
pps LinuxPPS: core support 2009-06-18 13:04:04 -07:00
prctl
RCU Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
s390 Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
scheduler sched: Remove USER_SCHED from documentation 2010-04-02 20:12:01 +02:00
scsi Documentation: move SCSI parameters to their own text file 2010-08-14 16:20:59 -07:00
serial Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
sh sh: Kill off remaining CONFIG_SH_KGDB bits. 2008-12-22 18:44:05 +09:00
sound ALSA: hda - Add a new hp-laptop model for Conexant 5066, tested on HP G60 2010-09-02 11:49:17 +02:00
sparc
spi spi/ep93xx: implemented driver for Cirrus EP93xx SPI controller 2010-05-25 00:23:16 -06:00
sysctl oom: enable oom tasklist dump by default 2010-08-09 20:44:56 -07:00
telephony Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
thermal thermal: add sanity check for the passive attribute 2009-11-05 18:18:10 -05:00
timers Documentation: Add timers/timers-howto.txt 2010-08-04 11:00:45 +02:00
trace vmscan: tracing: add a postprocessing script for reclaim-related ftrace events 2010-08-09 20:45:00 -07:00
uml Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
usb USB: gadget: g_multi: added documentation and INF files 2010-08-10 14:35:37 -07:00
video4linux V4L/DVB: Documentation: add v4l2-controls.txt documenting the new controls API 2010-08-08 23:43:04 -03:00
vm Documentation/vm: fix spelling in page-types.c 2010-08-05 13:21:23 -07:00
w1 Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
watchdog watchdog: docs: add an entry for imx2_wdt 2010-07-01 16:02:55 +00:00
wimax i2400m: documentation and instructions for usage 2009-01-07 10:00:18 -08:00
x86 x86, olpc: Add support for calling into OpenFirmware 2010-06-18 14:54:36 -07:00
zh_CN Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
.gitignore add random binaries to .gitignore 2010-04-08 11:34:34 +02:00
00-INDEX mmc: add erase, secure erase, trim and secure trim operations 2010-08-12 08:43:30 -07:00
apparmor.txt AppArmor: update Maintainer and Documentation 2010-08-02 15:35:15 +10:00
applying-patches.txt
atomic_ops.txt Documentation/: it's -> its where appropriate 2010-04-23 02:09:52 +02:00
bad_memory.txt Document handling of bad memory 2008-12-03 16:09:53 -07:00
basic_profiling.txt
binfmt_misc.txt Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
braille-console.txt trivial: Miscellaneous documentation typo fixes 2009-06-12 18:01:47 +02:00
bt8xxgpio.txt
btmrvl.txt Bluetooth: Add documentation for Marvell Bluetooth driver 2009-08-22 14:25:32 -07:00
BUG-HUNTING
bus-virt-phys-mapping.txt documentation: fix almost duplicate filenames (IO/io-mapping.txt) 2010-07-20 17:49:30 +00:00
cachetlb.txt Documentation/: it's -> its where appropriate 2010-04-23 02:09:52 +02:00
Changes Documentation update broken web addresses 2010-07-11 21:55:42 +02:00
circular-buffers.txt Document Linux's circular buffering capabilities 2010-03-24 16:31:22 -07:00
coccinelle.txt Documentation: fix ubuntu distro name 2010-06-29 15:27:00 +02:00
CodingStyle trivial: fix typo milisecond/millisecond for documentation and source comments. 2009-06-12 18:01:46 +02:00
cpu-hotplug.txt documentation: fix erroneous email address. 2010-08-11 23:04:10 +09:30
cpu-load.txt
cputopology.txt Documentation: ABI: /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu#/ topology files 2009-10-30 14:59:52 -07:00
credentials.txt CRED: Fix __task_cred()'s lockdep check and banner comment 2010-07-29 15:16:18 -07:00
dcdbas.txt
debugging-modules.txt
debugging-via-ohci1394.txt ieee1394: update URLs in debugging-via-ohci1394.txt 2009-10-03 09:28:11 +02:00
dell_rbu.txt trivial: Documentation/dell_rbu.txt: fix typos 2009-06-12 18:01:50 +02:00
devices.txt dm: allow autoloading of dm mod 2010-08-12 04:14:05 +01:00
DMA-API-HOWTO.txt Documentation: DMA-API-HOWTO.txt: rename ARCH_KMALLOC_MINALIGN to ARCH_DMA_MINALIGN 2010-08-14 11:56:46 -07:00
DMA-API.txt dma-mapping: remove dma_is_consistent API 2010-08-11 08:59:21 -07:00
DMA-attributes.txt
DMA-ISA-LPC.txt
dmaengine.txt async_tx, dmaengine: document channel allocation and api rework 2009-01-05 18:10:19 -07:00
dontdiff Merge branch 'for-linus-1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/rostedt/linux-2.6-kconfig 2010-02-25 14:43:57 -08:00
dynamic-debug-howto.txt Dynamic debug: allow simple quoting of words 2009-03-24 16:38:27 -07:00
edac.txt Documentation/edac.txt: Reflect the sysfs changes at the document 2010-05-10 11:49:30 -03:00
eisa.txt doc: fix Defaultd -> Defaults typo in EISA doc 2010-02-05 12:22:39 +01:00
email-clients.txt Documentation/email-clients.txt: update gmail information 2010-03-12 15:52:35 -08:00
feature-removal-schedule.txt dma-mapping: add DMA_xxBIT_MASK to feature-removal-schedule.txt 2010-08-11 08:59:22 -07:00
flexible-arrays.txt Update flex_arrays.txt 2009-10-15 07:25:20 -06:00
futex-requeue-pi.txt futex: add requeue-pi documentation 2009-05-09 07:12:50 +02:00
gcov.txt trivial: fix typo in CONFIG_DEBUG_FS in gcov doc 2009-09-21 15:14:56 +02:00
gpio.txt gpio: doc updates 2010-09-09 18:57:24 -07:00
highuid.txt
HOWTO Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
hw_random.txt
init.txt init/main.c: improve usability in case of init binary failure 2010-03-06 11:26:29 -08:00
initrd.txt
intel_txt.txt Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
Intel-IOMMU.txt intel-iommu: Kill DMAR_BROKEN_GFX_WA option. 2009-09-19 09:37:23 -07:00
io_ordering.txt
io-mapping.txt
iostats.txt
IPMI.txt ipmi: add parameter to limit CPU usage in kipmid 2010-03-12 15:52:39 -08:00
IRQ-affinity.txt
IRQ.txt
irqflags-tracing.txt
isapnp.txt
java.txt
kernel-doc-nano-HOWTO.txt docbook: warn on unused doc entries 2010-09-11 16:49:21 -07:00
kernel-docs.txt Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
kernel-parameters.txt Merge branch 'for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jbarnes/pci-2.6 2010-09-07 16:00:17 -07:00
keys-request-key.txt
keys.txt KEYS: Add a keyctl to install a process's session keyring on its parent [try #6] 2009-09-02 21:29:22 +10:00
kmemcheck.txt kmemcheck: update documentation 2009-07-01 22:36:22 +02:00
kmemleak.txt kmemleak: add clear command support 2009-09-08 16:36:08 +01:00
kobject.txt kobject: documentation: Update to refer to kset-example.c. 2010-03-19 07:12:20 -07:00
kprobes.txt Documentation: Mention that KProbes is supported on MIPS 2010-08-05 13:26:30 +01:00
kref.txt kref: double kref_put() in my_data_handler() 2009-09-18 09:48:52 -07:00
ldm.txt Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
leds-class.txt led: document sysfs interface 2009-08-28 15:21:12 -04:00
leds-lp3944.txt leds: LED driver for National Semiconductor LP3944 Funlight Chip 2009-06-23 20:21:38 +01:00
local_ops.txt trivial: Miscellaneous documentation typo fixes 2009-06-12 18:01:47 +02:00
lockdep-design.txt lockdep: Fix typos in documentation 2009-08-07 12:03:46 +02:00
lockstat.txt lockstat: Add usage info to Documentation/lockstat.txt 2009-12-06 13:20:02 +01:00
logo.gif Revert "linux.conf.au 2009: Tuz" 2009-04-27 12:00:27 -07:00
logo.txt Revert "linux.conf.au 2009: Tuz" 2009-04-27 12:00:27 -07:00
magic-number.txt documentation: update header file paths 2009-01-06 15:59:28 -08:00
Makefile Documentation/fs/: split txt and source files 2010-03-12 15:52:35 -08:00
ManagementStyle
mca.txt
md.txt Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
memory-barriers.txt Document Linux's circular buffering capabilities 2010-03-24 16:31:22 -07:00
memory-hotplug.txt mm: add numa node symlink for memory section in sysfs 2009-12-15 08:53:17 -08:00
memory.txt Documentation/memory.txt: remove some very outdated recommendations 2009-09-22 07:17:26 -07:00
mono.txt
mutex-design.txt mutex: Fix annotations to include it in kernel-locking docbook 2010-09-03 08:19:51 +02:00
nmi_watchdog.txt
nommu-mmap.txt nommu: fix malloc performance by adding uninitialized flag 2009-12-15 08:53:24 -08:00
numastat.txt mm: fix NUMA accounting in numastat.txt 2009-09-22 07:17:39 -07:00
oops-tracing.txt panic: Add taint flag TAINT_FIRMWARE_WORKAROUND ('I') 2010-05-19 08:37:43 +01:00
padata.txt Documentation/padata.txt: fix typos etc. 2010-08-11 08:59:18 -07:00
parport-lowlevel.txt
parport.txt
pi-futex.txt
pnp.txt doc: capitalization and other minor fixes in pnp doc 2010-02-05 12:22:44 +01:00
preempt-locking.txt
printk-formats.txt DOC: add printk-formats.txt 2008-11-12 17:17:17 -08:00
prio_tree.txt
rbtree.txt rbtree: Add support for augmented rbtrees 2010-02-18 15:40:56 -08:00
rfkill.txt Document the rfkill sysfs ABI 2010-03-10 17:09:33 -05:00
robust-futex-ABI.txt futex: documentation: fix inconsistent description of futex list_op_pending 2009-06-18 13:03:56 -07:00
robust-futexes.txt
rt-mutex-design.txt variable name fix to Documentation/rt-mutex-design.txt 2010-06-05 17:39:09 +02:00
rt-mutex.txt
rtc.txt rtc: add boot_timesource sysfs attribute 2009-09-23 07:39:46 -07:00
SAK.txt
SecurityBugs
SELinux.txt
serial-console.txt
sgi-ioc4.txt
sgi-visws.txt
SM501.txt trivial: Miscellaneous documentation typo fixes 2009-06-12 18:01:47 +02:00
Smack.txt Documentation/: it's -> its where appropriate 2010-04-23 02:09:52 +02:00
sparse.txt update email address 2010-07-19 10:56:54 +02:00
spinlocks.txt Documentation: rw_lock lessons learned 2009-12-14 09:46:56 -08:00
stable_api_nonsense.txt
stable_kernel_rules.txt Documentation: -stable rules: upstream commit ID requirement reworded 2010-04-22 15:24:56 -07:00
SubmitChecklist Documentation: update SubmitChecklist for O=objdir and kconfig testing 2010-05-24 07:31:20 -07:00
SubmittingDrivers Documentation: update broken web addresses. 2010-08-04 15:21:40 +02:00
SubmittingPatches SubmittingPatches: add more about patch descriptions 2010-08-09 20:45:05 -07:00
svga.txt
sysfs-rules.txt Fix typos in comments 2010-03-16 11:47:56 +01:00
sysrq.txt Input: Documentation/sysrq.txt - update KEY_SYSRQ info 2010-05-19 10:14:15 -07:00
tomoyo.txt TOMOYO: Update version to 2.3.0 2010-08-02 15:35:10 +10:00
unaligned-memory-access.txt
unicode.txt
unshare.txt
VGA-softcursor.txt
vgaarbiter.txt vgaarbiter: fix a typo in the vgaarbiter Documentation 2009-12-16 11:28:58 -08:00
video-output.txt
volatile-considered-harmful.txt Documentation/volatile-considered-harmful.txt: correct cpu_relax() documentation 2010-03-24 16:31:20 -07:00
workqueue.txt workqueue: add documentation 2010-09-13 10:26:52 +02:00
zorro.txt