linux/Documentation/ABI
John Garry 9da3d1e912 block: Add core atomic write support
Add atomic write support, as follows:
- add helper functions to get request_queue atomic write limits
- report request_queue atomic write support limits to sysfs and update Doc
- support to safely merge atomic writes
- deal with splitting atomic writes
- misc helper functions
- add a per-request atomic write flag

New request_queue limits are added, as follows:
- atomic_write_hw_max is set by the block driver and is the maximum length
  of an atomic write which the device may support. It is not
  necessarily a power-of-2.
- atomic_write_max_sectors is derived from atomic_write_hw_max_sectors and
  max_hw_sectors. It is always a power-of-2. Atomic writes may be merged,
  and atomic_write_max_sectors would be the limit on a merged atomic write
  request size. This value is not capped at max_sectors, as the value in
  max_sectors can be controlled from userspace, and it would only cause
  trouble if userspace could limit atomic_write_unit_max_bytes and the
  other atomic write limits.
- atomic_write_hw_unit_{min,max} are set by the block driver and are the
  min/max length of an atomic write unit which the device may support. They
  both must be a power-of-2. Typically atomic_write_hw_unit_max will hold
  the same value as atomic_write_hw_max.
- atomic_write_unit_{min,max} are derived from
  atomic_write_hw_unit_{min,max}, max_hw_sectors, and block core limits.
  Both min and max values must be a power-of-2.
- atomic_write_hw_boundary is set by the block driver. If non-zero, it
  indicates an LBA space boundary at which an atomic write straddles no
  longer is atomically executed by the disk. The value must be a
  power-of-2. Note that it would be acceptable to enforce a rule that
  atomic_write_hw_boundary_sectors is a multiple of
  atomic_write_hw_unit_max, but the resultant code would be more
  complicated.

All atomic writes limits are by default set 0 to indicate no atomic write
support. Even though it is assumed by Linux that a logical block can always
be atomically written, we ignore this as it is not of particular interest.
Stacked devices are just not supported either for now.

An atomic write must always be submitted to the block driver as part of a
single request. As such, only a single BIO must be submitted to the block
layer for an atomic write. When a single atomic write BIO is submitted, it
cannot be split. As such, atomic_write_unit_{max, min}_bytes are limited
by the maximum guaranteed BIO size which will not be required to be split.
This max size is calculated by request_queue max segments and the number
of bvecs a BIO can fit, BIO_MAX_VECS. Currently we rely on userspace
issuing a write with iovcnt=1 for pwritev2() - as such, we can rely on each
segment containing PAGE_SIZE of data, apart from the first+last, which each
can fit logical block size of data. The first+last will be LBS
length/aligned as we rely on direct IO alignment rules also.

New sysfs files are added to report the following atomic write limits:
- atomic_write_unit_max_bytes - same as atomic_write_unit_max_sectors in
				bytes
- atomic_write_unit_min_bytes - same as atomic_write_unit_min_sectors in
				bytes
- atomic_write_boundary_bytes - same as atomic_write_hw_boundary_sectors in
				bytes
- atomic_write_max_bytes      - same as atomic_write_max_sectors in bytes

Atomic writes may only be merged with other atomic writes and only under
the following conditions:
- total resultant request length <= atomic_write_max_bytes
- the merged write does not straddle a boundary

Helper function bdev_can_atomic_write() is added to indicate whether
atomic writes may be issued to a bdev. If a bdev is a partition, the
partition start must be aligned with both atomic_write_unit_min_sectors
and atomic_write_hw_boundary_sectors.

FSes will rely on the block layer to validate that an atomic write BIO
submitted will be of valid size, so add blk_validate_atomic_write_op_size()
for this purpose. Userspace expects an atomic write which is of invalid
size to be rejected with -EINVAL, so add BLK_STS_INVAL for this. Also use
BLK_STS_INVAL for when a BIO needs to be split, as this should mean an
invalid size BIO.

Flag REQ_ATOMIC is used for indicating an atomic write.

Co-developed-by: Himanshu Madhani <himanshu.madhani@oracle.com>
Signed-off-by: Himanshu Madhani <himanshu.madhani@oracle.com>
Reviewed-by: Martin K. Petersen <martin.petersen@oracle.com>
Signed-off-by: John Garry <john.g.garry@oracle.com>
Reviewed-by: Keith Busch <kbusch@kernel.org>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20240620125359.2684798-6-john.g.garry@oracle.com
Signed-off-by: Jens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk>
2024-06-20 15:19:17 -06:00
..
obsolete Documentation: ABI: update sysfs-gpio to reference gpio-cdev 2024-01-22 10:49:03 +01:00
removed Documentation: Mark the 'efivars' sysfs interface as removed 2024-04-13 10:33:02 +02:00
stable block: Add core atomic write support 2024-06-20 15:19:17 -06:00
testing Char/Misc and other driver subsystem changes for 6.10-rc1 2024-05-22 12:26:46 -07:00
README

This directory attempts to document the ABI between the Linux kernel and
userspace, and the relative stability of these interfaces.  Due to the
everchanging nature of Linux, and the differing maturity levels, these
interfaces should be used by userspace programs in different ways.

We have four different levels of ABI stability, as shown by the four
different subdirectories in this location.  Interfaces may change levels
of stability according to the rules described below.

The different levels of stability are:

  stable/
	This directory documents the interfaces that the developer has
	defined to be stable.  Userspace programs are free to use these
	interfaces with no restrictions, and backward compatibility for
	them will be guaranteed for at least 2 years.  Most interfaces
	(like syscalls) are expected to never change and always be
	available.

  testing/
	This directory documents interfaces that are felt to be stable,
	as the main development of this interface has been completed.
	The interface can be changed to add new features, but the
	current interface will not break by doing this, unless grave
	errors or security problems are found in them.  Userspace
	programs can start to rely on these interfaces, but they must be
	aware of changes that can occur before these interfaces move to
	be marked stable.  Programs that use these interfaces are
	strongly encouraged to add their name to the description of
	these interfaces, so that the kernel developers can easily
	notify them if any changes occur (see the description of the
	layout of the files below for details on how to do this.)

  obsolete/
	This directory documents interfaces that are still remaining in
	the kernel, but are marked to be removed at some later point in
	time.  The description of the interface will document the reason
	why it is obsolete and when it can be expected to be removed.

  removed/
	This directory contains a list of the old interfaces that have
	been removed from the kernel.

Every file in these directories will contain the following information:

What:		Short description of the interface
Date:		Date created
KernelVersion:	Kernel version this feature first showed up in.
Contact:	Primary contact for this interface (may be a mailing list)
Description:	Long description of the interface and how to use it.
Users:		All users of this interface who wish to be notified when
		it changes.  This is very important for interfaces in
		the "testing" stage, so that kernel developers can work
		with userspace developers to ensure that things do not
		break in ways that are unacceptable.  It is also
		important to get feedback for these interfaces to make
		sure they are working in a proper way and do not need to
		be changed further.


Note:
   The fields should be use a simple notation, compatible with ReST markup.
   Also, the file **should not** have a top-level index, like::

	===
	foo
	===

How things move between levels:

Interfaces in stable may move to obsolete, as long as the proper
notification is given.

Interfaces may be removed from obsolete and the kernel as long as the
documented amount of time has gone by.

Interfaces in the testing state can move to the stable state when the
developers feel they are finished.  They cannot be removed from the
kernel tree without going through the obsolete state first.

It's up to the developer to place their interfaces in the category they
wish for it to start out in.


Notable bits of non-ABI, which should not under any circumstances be considered
stable:

- Kconfig.  Userspace should not rely on the presence or absence of any
  particular Kconfig symbol, in /proc/config.gz, in the copy of .config
  commonly installed to /boot, or in any invocation of the kernel build
  process.

- Kernel-internal symbols.  Do not rely on the presence, absence, location, or
  type of any kernel symbol, either in System.map files or the kernel binary
  itself.  See Documentation/process/stable-api-nonsense.rst.