[PATCH] doc: refer to kdump in oops-tracing.txt
[GitHub/mt8127/android_kernel_alcatel_ttab.git] / Documentation / filesystems / ext3.txt
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1
2Ext3 Filesystem
3===============
4
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5Ext3 was originally released in September 1999. Written by Stephen Tweedie
6for the 2.2 branch, and ported to 2.4 kernels by Peter Braam, Andreas Dilger,
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7Andrew Morton, Alexander Viro, Ted Ts'o and Stephen Tweedie.
8
c63ca3c8 9Ext3 is the ext2 filesystem enhanced with journalling capabilities.
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10
11Options
12=======
13
14When mounting an ext3 filesystem, the following option are accepted:
15(*) == default
16
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17journal=update Update the ext3 file system's journal to the current
18 format.
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20journal=inum When a journal already exists, this option is ignored.
21 Otherwise, it specifies the number of the inode which
22 will represent the ext3 file system's journal file.
1da177e4 23
71b96257 24journal_dev=devnum When the external journal device's major/minor numbers
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25 have changed, this option allows the user to specify
26 the new journal location. The journal device is
27 identified through its new major/minor numbers encoded
28 in devnum.
71b96257 29
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30noload Don't load the journal on mounting.
31
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32data=journal All data are committed into the journal prior to being
33 written into the main file system.
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34
35data=ordered (*) All data are forced directly out to the main file
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36 system prior to its metadata being committed to the
37 journal.
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39data=writeback Data ordering is not preserved, data may be written
40 into the main file system after its metadata has been
41 committed to the journal.
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42
43commit=nrsec (*) Ext3 can be told to sync all its data and metadata
44 every 'nrsec' seconds. The default value is 5 seconds.
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45 This means that if you lose your power, you will lose
46 as much as the latest 5 seconds of work (your
47 filesystem will not be damaged though, thanks to the
48 journaling). This default value (or any low value)
49 will hurt performance, but it's good for data-safety.
50 Setting it to 0 will have the same effect as leaving
51 it at the default (5 seconds).
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52 Setting it to very large values will improve
53 performance.
54
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55barrier=1 This enables/disables barriers. barrier=0 disables
56 it, barrier=1 enables it.
1da177e4 57
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58orlov (*) This enables the new Orlov block allocator. It is
59 enabled by default.
1da177e4 60
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61oldalloc This disables the Orlov block allocator and enables
62 the old block allocator. Orlov should have better
63 performance - we'd like to get some feedback if it's
64 the contrary for you.
1da177e4 65
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66user_xattr Enables Extended User Attributes. Additionally, you
67 need to have extended attribute support enabled in the
68 kernel configuration (CONFIG_EXT3_FS_XATTR). See the
69 attr(5) manual page and http://acl.bestbits.at/ to
70 learn more about extended attributes.
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71
72nouser_xattr Disables Extended User Attributes.
73
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74acl Enables POSIX Access Control Lists support.
75 Additionally, you need to have ACL support enabled in
76 the kernel configuration (CONFIG_EXT3_FS_POSIX_ACL).
77 See the acl(5) manual page and http://acl.bestbits.at/
78 for more information.
1da177e4 79
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80noacl This option disables POSIX Access Control List
81 support.
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82
83reservation
84
85noreservation
86
87resize=
88
89bsddf (*) Make 'df' act like BSD.
90minixdf Make 'df' act like Minix.
91
92check=none Don't do extra checking of bitmaps on mount.
c63ca3c8 93nocheck
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94
95debug Extra debugging information is sent to syslog.
96
97errors=remount-ro(*) Remount the filesystem read-only on an error.
98errors=continue Keep going on a filesystem error.
99errors=panic Panic and halt the machine if an error occurs.
100
101grpid Give objects the same group ID as their creator.
c63ca3c8 102bsdgroups
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103
104nogrpid (*) New objects have the group ID of their creator.
105sysvgroups
106
107resgid=n The group ID which may use the reserved blocks.
108
109resuid=n The user ID which may use the reserved blocks.
110
111sb=n Use alternate superblock at this location.
112
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113quota
114noquota
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115grpquota
116usrquota
117
118
119Specification
120=============
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121Ext3 shares all disk implementation with the ext2 filesystem, and adds
122transactions capabilities to ext2. Journaling is done by the Journaling Block
123Device layer.
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124
125Journaling Block Device layer
126-----------------------------
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127The Journaling Block Device layer (JBD) isn't ext3 specific. It was design to
128add journaling capabilities on a block device. The ext3 filesystem code will
129inform the JBD of modifications it is performing (called a transaction). The
130journal supports the transactions start and stop, and in case of crash, the
131journal can replayed the transactions to put the partition back in a
132consistent state fast.
1da177e4 133
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134Handles represent a single atomic update to a filesystem. JBD can handle an
135external journal on a block device.
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136
137Data Mode
138---------
c63ca3c8 139There are 3 different data modes:
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140
141* writeback mode
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142In data=writeback mode, ext3 does not journal data at all. This mode provides
143a similar level of journaling as that of XFS, JFS, and ReiserFS in its default
144mode - metadata journaling. A crash+recovery can cause incorrect data to
145appear in files which were written shortly before the crash. This mode will
146typically provide the best ext3 performance.
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147
148* ordered mode
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149In data=ordered mode, ext3 only officially journals metadata, but it logically
150groups metadata and data blocks into a single unit called a transaction. When
151it's time to write the new metadata out to disk, the associated data blocks
152are written first. In general, this mode performs slightly slower than
153writeback but significantly faster than journal mode.
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154
155* journal mode
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156data=journal mode provides full data and metadata journaling. All new data is
157written to the journal first, and then to its final location.
158In the event of a crash, the journal can be replayed, bringing both data and
159metadata into a consistent state. This mode is the slowest except when data
160needs to be read from and written to disk at the same time where it
161outperforms all others modes.
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162
163Compatibility
164-------------
165
166Ext2 partitions can be easily convert to ext3, with `tune2fs -j <dev>`.
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167Ext3 is fully compatible with Ext2. Ext3 partitions can easily be mounted as
168Ext2.
169
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170
171External Tools
172==============
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173See manual pages to learn more.
174
175tune2fs: create a ext3 journal on a ext2 partition with the -j flag.
176mke2fs: create a ext3 partition with the -j flag.
177debugfs: ext2 and ext3 file system debugger.
1da177e4 178
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179
180References
181==========
182
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183kernel source: <file:fs/ext3/>
184 <file:fs/jbd/>
1da177e4 185
c63ca3c8 186programs: http://e2fsprogs.sourceforge.net/
1da177e4 187
c63ca3c8 188useful links: http://www.zip.com.au/~akpm/linux/ext3/ext3-usage.html
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189 http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-fs7/
190 http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-fs8/