[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Does Knoppix 7.04 kernel predate the ext4-fs-killer bug?



Hello Charles,

On Wed, Nov 07, 2012 at 03:53:31PM -0500, Charles Evans wrote:
> The notorious patch was intended to fix the ext4 fs, but sometimes kills it. 
> it was backported to older kernels as well.
> I saw a note that it was believed to also fix a rare bug in ext3.
> 
> The date on the K704 kernel is close to the date the bug was fixed;
> Was the patch backported before K704 came out? 

I usually don't add any kernel patches, so the changelog of the vanilla
kernel.org kernel is also true for the kernel version used in Knoppix.
However, I don't think that the too much hyped "ext4 bug" is really
dramatic, since it only occurs in somewhat exotic circumstances.

> Are we safe? I have many ext4 partitions, but I am still using K703.

As far as I read, if you use ext4 in normal file system use on regular
partitions, you are not affected by the bug.

> I have scripts that briefly mount ext4 partitions; this is said to 
> trigger the ext4 bug.

Are you using one of the experimental mount options "nobarrier" und
"journal_async_commit" AND are you umounting your file systems with the
"lazy" option (umount -l) instead of the regular umount which
synchronizes the metadata? 

If not, you should be safe. :-)

Regards
-Klaus


Reply to: