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authorLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2026-08-30 09:22:00 -0700
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2026-08-30 09:22:00 -0700
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tree2536f4b2d7893ccd916b5abdf3c454ad6edc03c2 /Documentation/driver-api/md/raid5-ppl.rst
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Merge tag 'trace-v7.3-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-tracegrafted
Pull tracing fixes from Steven Rostedt: - Fix error output of boot instance creation failure Currently if a boot instance creation fails, instead of printing out the name of the instance that failed, it prints "(null)". That is because it prints "cur_str" that had already been processed by strsep(). Print the saved name instead. While at it, print the error code of the failure. - Fix use-after-free for same named historgrams Histograms can be named so that they can be used in multiple events. But if the named histogram has a variable attached, the second event that uses the named histogram which duplicates it and needs to free the original after duplication leaves the old variable in place and still visible. If another histogram uses than variable, it will use the stale one which will try to reference the freed duplicate histogram and crash the kernel. Free the duplicate variables along with the duplicated histogram data. - Check return value of kthread_run() in event self test The events self tests uses a kthread for testing but does not check if it succeeded in creating a kthread. If the kthread creation were to fail, the code will still try to call kthread_stop() on the error returned. - Fix race between reading trace_pipe and updating subbuffer size If a user is reading the trace_pipe file at the same time they update the ring buffer sub-buffer size, can cause the trace_pipe read to read stale data. Add trace_access_lock() around updating the ring buffer sub-buffer size. - Fix eventfs_inode on failure path in creation of the events directory In the creation of the "events" directory, if after allocating the eventfs_inode a failure is detected, it calls cleanup_ei() which calls free_ei(). The free_ei() will test if eventfs_inode being freed has no children. It is a bug if it does. But on the failure case of the creation of the "events" directory, the children lists have not yet been initialized and the free will trigger a warning because list_empty() on an uninitialized list returns false. Move the initialization into init_ei() where it makes more sense and makes sure that a created eventfs_inode has its lists initialized upon creation. - Check return value of kthread_run() in ftrace direct sample code The sample code that shows how to use the ftrace direct calls does not test the return of kthread_run() to see if it succeeds. Return a failure if the kthread_run() doesn't succeed. - Clear user events state on fork in case of alloc failure On fork, the child gets a pointer to the parent's user events state. It makes a copy of it then updates the child's pointer to it. But if the allocation fails, the duplication function leaves the child with a pointer to its parent's descriptor. When the child cleans up its data, it will free the parent's descriptor while the parent is still using it. In the duplication function, set the child's user_event_mm to NULL before testing if the allocation succeeded, and when it exits it will not free the parent's descriptor. - Fix retry exhaustion in simple ring buffer reader swap simple_ring_buffer_swap_reader_page() starts with retry set to 8 and post-decrements it only after a failed link replacement. On the final attempt, a successful replacement leaves retry at zero, while a failed replacement leaves it at -1. But the check for success expects the retry value to be non-zero and exits with an error on zero. This is the opposite result. Fix it. - Fail nicely when the remote swap_reader_page() returns an error Currently, if the swap_reader_page() of a remote buffer fails, it triggers a WARN_ON_ONCE() and continues normally. Instead, have it exit with an error and a pr_warn() print instead of a full WARNING. * tag 'trace-v7.3-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace: ring-buffer: Stop remote reader update when page swap fails tracing: Fix retry exhaustion in simple ring buffer reader swap tracing/user_events: Clear copied tracing state before fork duplication samples/ftrace: Fix kthread_stop() on ERR_PTR in ftrace-direct-multi-modify samples/ftrace: Fix kthread_stop() on ERR_PTR in ftrace-direct-modify eventfs: Initialize ei->children and ei->list in init_ei() tracing: Fix use-after-free in trace_pipe read on sub-buffer order change tracing: Fix crash passing ERR_PTR to kthread_stop() tracing: Fix use-after-free with same-name named triggers tracing: Fix logged instance name on creation failure
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+==================
+Partial Parity Log
+==================
+
+Partial Parity Log (PPL) is a feature available for RAID5 arrays. The issue
+addressed by PPL is that after a dirty shutdown, parity of a particular stripe
+may become inconsistent with data on other member disks. If the array is also
+in degraded state, there is no way to recalculate parity, because one of the
+disks is missing. This can lead to silent data corruption when rebuilding the
+array or using it is as degraded - data calculated from parity for array blocks
+that have not been touched by a write request during the unclean shutdown can
+be incorrect. Such condition is known as the RAID5 Write Hole. Because of
+this, md by default does not allow starting a dirty degraded array.
+
+Partial parity for a write operation is the XOR of stripe data chunks not
+modified by this write. It is just enough data needed for recovering from the
+write hole. XORing partial parity with the modified chunks produces parity for
+the stripe, consistent with its state before the write operation, regardless of
+which chunk writes have completed. If one of the not modified data disks of
+this stripe is missing, this updated parity can be used to recover its
+contents. PPL recovery is also performed when starting an array after an
+unclean shutdown and all disks are available, eliminating the need to resync
+the array. Because of this, using write-intent bitmap and PPL together is not
+supported.
+
+When handling a write request PPL writes partial parity before new data and
+parity are dispatched to disks. PPL is a distributed log - it is stored on
+array member drives in the metadata area, on the parity drive of a particular
+stripe. It does not require a dedicated journaling drive. Write performance is
+reduced by up to 30%-40% but it scales with the number of drives in the array
+and the journaling drive does not become a bottleneck or a single point of
+failure.
+
+Unlike raid5-cache, the other solution in md for closing the write hole, PPL is
+not a true journal. It does not protect from losing in-flight data, only from
+silent data corruption. If a dirty disk of a stripe is lost, no PPL recovery is
+performed for this stripe (parity is not updated). So it is possible to have
+arbitrary data in the written part of a stripe if that disk is lost. In such
+case the behavior is the same as in plain raid5.
+
+PPL is available for md version-1 metadata and external (specifically IMSM)
+metadata arrays. It can be enabled using mdadm option --consistency-policy=ppl.
+
+There is a limitation of maximum 64 disks in the array for PPL. It allows to
+keep data structures and implementation simple. RAID5 arrays with so many disks
+are not likely due to high risk of multiple disks failure. Such restriction
+should not be a real life limitation.