On Wed, 2006-04-19 at 00:35 +0200, Iustin Pop wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 18, 2006 at 05:54:45PM -0400, Ming Zhang wrote:
> > yes, xfs supports file hole.
> >
> > so about ext2, how to understand this in "understanding linux kernel"
> >
> > "the file system preallocate disk data blocks to regular files before
> > they are actually used. thus, when the file increase in size, several
> > blocks are already reserved at physically adjacent positions, reducing
> > file fragmentation"
> The key part here is "when the file increases in size". That only
> happens when you do a write(), not when you do a seek().
;) if that block is preserved already, what happen when there is a read
on that LBA? read return 0 or read from preserved block?
assume i write LBA 0 4KB and then ext2 preserve LBA 8-16 for this file,
then a read on that will return what?
>
> So if you do a seek(some-very-large-value), the file will not increase
> in size (on-disk). No space will be pre-allocated here. So that's why
> you will always get 0 on read.
agree.
>
> > and also XFS has a preallocation ioctl control that can pre-allocate
> > some space for a file. so if that space is allocated, what will happen
> > on read these space with no previous write happen? it will be
> > troublesome for xfs to judge that space is preserved, but not used. that
> > is 2 independent lookup services and overheads.
> This is different from the standard hole thing, and needs to be
> addressed by someone with proper knowledge of XFS. I tried to look at
> the source code, and found this comment in xfs_vnodeops.c:
> /*
> * XFS_IOC_RESVSP and XFS_IOC_UNRESVSP will reserve or unreserve
> * file space.
> * These calls do NOT zero the data space allocated to the file,
> * nor do they change the file size.
> *
> * XFS_IOC_ALLOCSP and XFS_IOC_FREESP will allocate and free file
> * space.
> * These calls cause the new file data to be zeroed and the file
> * size to be changed.
> */
> It seems as soon as you do an XFS_IOC_ALLOCSP they will zero the data.
> However, I don't understand the difference between RESVSP and ALLOCSP...
i think ALLOCSP is like xfs specifc/quicker way to get space allocated
and zeroed. but what RESVSP do?
>
> > i have a c program do this and so far return 0. but test can never mean
> > 100%, right? only from xfs implementation logic can validate this.
> Yes, and the fact that I think it has been said on list that XFS won't
> return unwritten data.
thx. hope a xfs guy can confirm this.
>
> Regards,
> Iustin
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