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Ming-Hung Tsai a373b3d528 dm cache: prevent entering passthrough mode after unclean shutdown
dm-cache assumes all cache blocks are dirty when it recovers from an
unclean shutdown. Given that the passthrough mode doesn't handle dirty
blocks, we should not load a cache in passthrough mode if it was not
cleanly shut down; or we'll risk data loss while updating an actually
dirty block.

Also bump the target version to 2.4.0 to mark completion of passthrough
mode fixes.

Reproduce steps:

1. Create a writeback cache with zero migration_threshold to produce
   dirty blocks.

dmsetup create cmeta --table "0 8192 linear /dev/sdc 0"
dmsetup create cdata --table "0 131072 linear /dev/sdc 8192"
dmsetup create corig --table "0 262144 linear /dev/sdc 262144"
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mapper/cmeta bs=4k count=1 oflag=direct
dmsetup create cache --table "0 262144 cache /dev/mapper/cmeta \
/dev/mapper/cdata /dev/mapper/corig 128 2 metadata2 writeback smq \
2 migration_threshold 0"

2. Write the first cache block dirty

fio --filename=/dev/mapper/cache --name=populate --rw=write --bs=4k \
--direct=1 --size=64k

3. Ensure the number of dirty blocks is 1. This status query triggers
   metadata commit without flushing the dirty bitset, setting up the
   unclean shutdown state.

dmsetup status cache | awk '{print $14}'

4. Force reboot, leaving the cache uncleanly shutdown.

echo b > /proc/sysrq-trigger

5. Activate the above cache components, and verify the first data block
   remains dirty.

dmsetup create cmeta --table "0 8192 linear /dev/sdc 0"
dmsetup create cdata --table "0 131072 linear /dev/sdc 8192"
dmsetup create corig --table "0 262144 linear /dev/sdc 262144"
dd if=/dev/mapper/cdata of=/tmp/cb0.bin bs=64k count=1
dd if=/dev/mapper/corig of=/tmp/ob0.bin bs=64k count=1
md5sum /tmp/cb0.bin /tmp/ob0.bin # expected to be different

6. Try bringing up the cache in passthrough mode. It succeeds, while the
   first cache block was loaded dirty due to unclean shutdown, violates
   the passthrough mode's constraints.

dmsetup create cache --table "0 262144 cache /dev/mapper/cmeta \
/dev/mapper/cdata /dev/mapper/corig 128 2 metadata2 passthrough smq 0"
dmsetup status cache | awk '{print $14}'

7. (Optional) Demonstrate the integrity issue: invalidating the dirty
   block in passthrough mode doesn't write back the dirty data, causing
   data loss.

fio --filename=/dev/mapper/cache --name=invalidate --rw=write --bs=4k \
--direct=1 --size=4k  # overwrite the first 4k to trigger invalidation
dmsetup remove cache
dd if=/dev/mapper/corig of=/tmp/ob0new.bin bs=64k count=1
cb0sum=$(dd if=/tmp/cb0.bin bs=4k count=15 skip=1 | md5sum | \
awk '{print $1}')
ob0newsum=$(dd if=/tmp/ob0new.bin bs=4k count=15 skip=1 | md5sum | \
awk '{print $1}')
echo "$cb0sum, $ob0newsum"  # remaining 60k should differ (data loss)

Signed-off-by: Ming-Hung Tsai <mtsai@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: Mikulas Patocka <mpatocka@redhat.com>
History 2026-03-02 16:50:18 +01:00
arch Arm: 2026-03-01 15:34:47 -08:00
block Convert remaining multi-line kmalloc_obj/flex GFP_KERNEL uses 2026-02-22 08:26:33 -08:00
certs Convert 'alloc_obj' family to use the new default GFP_KERNEL argument 2026-02-21 17:09:51 -08:00
crypto x509: select CONFIG_CRYPTO_LIB_SHA256 2026-02-22 12:09:23 -08:00
Documentation Arm: 2026-03-01 15:34:47 -08:00
drivers dm cache: prevent entering passthrough mode after unclean shutdown 2026-03-02 16:50:18 +01:00
fs Miscellaneous fixes: 2026-03-01 11:09:24 -08:00
include Arm: 2026-03-01 15:34:47 -08:00
init init/Kconfig: Adjust fixed clang version for __builtin_counted_by_ref 2026-02-23 14:35:16 -08:00
io_uring io_uring-7.0-20260227 2026-02-27 10:39:11 -08:00
ipc Convert 'alloc_obj' family to use the new default GFP_KERNEL argument 2026-02-21 17:09:51 -08:00
kernel Improve the inlining of jiffies_to_msecs() and jiffies_to_usecs(), 2026-03-01 12:15:58 -08:00
lib A single fix for debugobjects. 2026-03-01 13:32:32 -08:00
LICENSES LICENSES: Add modern form of the LGPL-2.1 tags to the usage guide section 2025-10-22 07:58:19 +02:00
mm slab fixes for 7.0-rc1 2026-02-27 09:54:02 -08:00
net Including fixes from IPsec, Bluetooth and netfilter 2026-02-26 08:00:13 -08:00
rust rust: io: macro_export io_define_read!() and io_define_write!() 2026-02-23 00:54:02 +01:00
samples USB / Thunderbolt changes for 7.0-rc1 2026-02-17 09:36:43 -08:00
scripts Convert 'alloc_obj' family to use the new default GFP_KERNEL argument 2026-02-21 17:09:51 -08:00
security Convert remaining multi-line kmalloc_obj/flex GFP_KERNEL uses 2026-02-22 08:26:33 -08:00
sound ASoC: SDCA: Fix comments for sdca_irq_request() 2026-02-26 17:57:37 +01:00
tools bpf-fixes 2026-02-28 19:54:28 -08:00
usr kbuild: uapi: drop dependency on CC_CAN_LINK 2026-01-16 15:02:11 -07:00
virt KVM: always define KVM_CAP_SYNC_MMU 2026-02-28 15:31:35 +01:00
.clang-format Devicetree updates for v7.0: 2026-02-11 18:27:08 -08:00
.clippy.toml rust: clean Rust 1.88.0's warning about clippy::disallowed_macros configuration 2025-05-07 00:11:47 +02:00
.cocciconfig scripts: add Linux .cocciconfig for coccinelle 2016-07-22 12:13:39 +02:00
.editorconfig editorconfig: add rst extension 2026-01-26 19:07:09 -08:00
.get_maintainer.ignore MAINTAINERS: remove Alyssa Rosenzweig 2025-09-18 21:17:31 +02:00
.gitattributes .gitattributes: set diff driver for Rust source code files 2023-05-31 17:48:25 +02:00
.gitignore rust: kbuild: add proc macro library support 2025-11-24 17:15:36 +01:00
.mailmap 12 hotfixes. 7 are cc:stable. 8 are for MM. 2026-02-26 15:27:41 -08:00
.pylintrc docs: Move the python libraries to tools/lib/python 2025-11-18 09:22:40 -07:00
.rustfmt.toml rust: add .rustfmt.toml 2022-09-28 09:02:20 +02:00
COPYING COPYING: state that all contributions really are covered by this file 2020-02-10 13:32:20 -08:00
CREDITS CREDITS: Add -next to Stephen Rothwell's entry 2026-02-22 12:11:33 -08:00
Kbuild sched: Make migrate_{en,dis}able() inline 2025-09-25 09:57:16 +02:00
Kconfig io_uring: Rename KConfig to Kconfig 2025-02-19 14:53:27 -07:00
MAINTAINERS SCSI fixes on 20260228 2026-03-01 09:59:29 -08:00
Makefile Linux 7.0-rc2 2026-03-01 15:39:31 -08:00
README docs: add AI Coding Assistants documentation 2026-01-06 14:55:06 -07:00

Linux kernel
============

The Linux kernel is the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware,
system resources, and provides the fundamental services for all other software.

Quick Start
-----------

* Report a bug: See Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
* Get the latest kernel: https://kernel.org
* Build the kernel: See Documentation/admin-guide/quickly-build-trimmed-linux.rst
* Join the community: https://lore.kernel.org/

Essential Documentation
-----------------------

All users should be familiar with:

* Building requirements: Documentation/process/changes.rst
* Code of Conduct: Documentation/process/code-of-conduct.rst
* License: See COPYING

Documentation can be built with make htmldocs or viewed online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/


Who Are You?
============

Find your role below:

* New Kernel Developer - Getting started with kernel development
* Academic Researcher - Studying kernel internals and architecture
* Security Expert - Hardening and vulnerability analysis
* Backport/Maintenance Engineer - Maintaining stable kernels
* System Administrator - Configuring and troubleshooting
* Maintainer - Leading subsystems and reviewing patches
* Hardware Vendor - Writing drivers for new hardware
* Distribution Maintainer - Packaging kernels for distros
* AI Coding Assistant - LLMs and AI-powered development tools


For Specific Users
==================

New Kernel Developer
--------------------

Welcome! Start your kernel development journey here:

* Getting Started: Documentation/process/development-process.rst
* Your First Patch: Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
* Coding Style: Documentation/process/coding-style.rst
* Build System: Documentation/kbuild/index.rst
* Development Tools: Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
* Kernel Hacking Guide: Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst
* Core APIs: Documentation/core-api/index.rst

Academic Researcher
-------------------

Explore the kernel's architecture and internals:

* Researcher Guidelines: Documentation/process/researcher-guidelines.rst
* Memory Management: Documentation/mm/index.rst
* Scheduler: Documentation/scheduler/index.rst
* Networking Stack: Documentation/networking/index.rst
* Filesystems: Documentation/filesystems/index.rst
* RCU (Read-Copy Update): Documentation/RCU/index.rst
* Locking Primitives: Documentation/locking/index.rst
* Power Management: Documentation/power/index.rst

Security Expert
---------------

Security documentation and hardening guides:

* Security Documentation: Documentation/security/index.rst
* LSM Development: Documentation/security/lsm-development.rst
* Self Protection: Documentation/security/self-protection.rst
* Reporting Vulnerabilities: Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst
* CVE Procedures: Documentation/process/cve.rst
* Embargoed Hardware Issues: Documentation/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst
* Security Features: Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst

Backport/Maintenance Engineer
-----------------------------

Maintain and stabilize kernel versions:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* Backporting Guide: Documentation/process/backporting.rst
* Applying Patches: Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
* Subsystem Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git for Maintainers: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

System Administrator
--------------------

Configure, tune, and troubleshoot Linux systems:

* Admin Guide: Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Sysctl Tuning: Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst
* Tracing/Debugging: Documentation/trace/index.rst
* Performance Security: Documentation/admin-guide/perf-security.rst
* Hardware Monitoring: Documentation/hwmon/index.rst

Maintainer
----------

Lead kernel subsystems and manage contributions:

* Maintainer Handbook: Documentation/maintainer/index.rst
* Pull Requests: Documentation/maintainer/pull-requests.rst
* Managing Patches: Documentation/maintainer/modifying-patches.rst
* Rebasing and Merging: Documentation/maintainer/rebasing-and-merging.rst
* Development Process: Documentation/process/maintainer-handbooks.rst
* Maintainer Entry Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git Configuration: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

Hardware Vendor
---------------

Write drivers and support new hardware:

* Driver API Guide: Documentation/driver-api/index.rst
* Driver Model: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst
* Device Drivers: Documentation/driver-api/infrastructure.rst
* Bus Types: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/bus.rst
* Device Tree Bindings: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/
* Power Management: Documentation/driver-api/pm/index.rst
* DMA API: Documentation/core-api/dma-api.rst

Distribution Maintainer
-----------------------

Package and distribute the kernel:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* ABI Documentation: Documentation/ABI/README
* Kernel Configuration: Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst
* Module Signing: Documentation/admin-guide/module-signing.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Tainted Kernels: Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst

AI Coding Assistant
-------------------

CRITICAL: If you are an LLM or AI-powered coding assistant, you MUST read and
follow the AI coding assistants documentation before contributing to the Linux
kernel:

* Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst

This documentation contains essential requirements about licensing, attribution,
and the Developer Certificate of Origin that all AI tools must comply with.


Communication and Support
=========================

* Mailing Lists: https://lore.kernel.org/
* IRC: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net
* Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/
* MAINTAINERS file: Lists subsystem maintainers and mailing lists
* Email Clients: Documentation/process/email-clients.rst