Re: [PATCH 00/11] VFS: Introduce filesystem information query syscall [ver #15]

On Fri, Jun 28, 2019 at 04:43:37PM +0100, David Howells wrote:

Here are a set of patches that adds a syscall, fsinfo(), that allows
attributes of a filesystem/superblock to be queried.  Attribute values are
of four basic types:

 (1) Version dependent-length structure (size defined by type).

 (2) Variable-length string (up to 4096, no NUL).

 (3) Array of fixed-length structures (up to INT_MAX size).

 (4) Opaque blob (up to INT_MAX size).

Attributes can have multiple values either as a sequence of values or a
sequence-of-sequences of values and all the values of a particular
attribute must be of the same type.

Note that the values of an attribute *are* allowed to vary between dentries
within a single superblock, depending on the specific dentry that you're
looking at.

I've tried to make the interface as light as possible, so integer/enum
attribute selector rather than string and the core does all the allocation
and extensibility support work rather than leaving that to the filesystems.
That means that for the first two attribute types, sb->s_op->fsinfo() may
assume that the provided buffer is always present and always big enough.

Further, this removes the possibility of the filesystem gaining access to the
userspace buffer.


fsinfo() allows a variety of information to be retrieved about a filesystem
and the mount topology:

 (1) General superblock attributes:

      - The amount of space/free space in a filesystem (as statfs()).
      - Filesystem identifiers (UUID, volume label, device numbers, ...)
      - The limits on a filesystem's capabilities
      - Information on supported statx fields and attributes and IOC flags.
      - A variety single-bit flags indicating supported capabilities.
      - Timestamp resolution and range.
      - Sources (as per mount(2), but fsconfig() allows multiple sources).
      - In-filesystem filename format information.
      - Filesystem parameters ("mount -o xxx"-type things).
      - LSM parameters (again "mount -o xxx"-type things).

 (2) Filesystem-specific superblock attributes:

      - Server names and addresses.
      - Cell name.

 (3) Filesystem configuration metadata attributes:

      - Filesystem parameter type descriptions.
      - Name -> parameter mappings.
      - Simple enumeration name -> value mappings.

 (4) Information about what the fsinfo() syscall itself supports, including
     the number of attibutes supported and the number of capability bits
     supported.

 (5) Future patches will include information about the mount topology.

The system is extensible:

 (1) New attributes can be added.  There is no requirement that a
     filesystem implement every attribute.  Note that the core VFS keeps a
     table of types and sizes so it can handle future extensibility rather
     than delegating this to the filesystems.

 (2) Version length-dependent structure attributes can be made larger and
     have additional information tacked on the end, provided it keeps the
     layout of the existing fields.  If an older process asks for a shorter
     structure, it will only be given the bits it asks for.  If a newer
     process asks for a longer structure on an older kernel, the extra
     space will be set to 0.  In all cases, the size of the data actually
     available is returned.

     In essence, the size of a structure is that structure's version: a
     smaller size is an earlier version and a later version includes
     everything that the earlier version did.

 (3) New single-bit capability flags can be added.  This is a structure-typed
     attribute and, as such, (2) applies.  Any bits you wanted but the kernel
     doesn't support are automatically set to 0.

If a filesystem-specific attribute is added, it should just take up the next
number in the enumeration.  Currently, I do not intend that the number space
should be subdivided between interested parties.


fsinfo() may be called like the following, for example:

	struct fsinfo_params params = {
		.at_flags	= AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW,
		.request	= FSINFO_ATTR_SERVER_ADDRESS;
		.Nth		= 2;
		.Mth		= 1;
	};
	struct fsinfo_server_address address;

	len = fsinfo(AT_FDCWD, "/afs/grand.central.org/doc", &params,
		     &address, sizeof(address));

The above example would query a network filesystem, such as AFS or NFS, and
ask what the 2nd address (Mth) of the 3rd server (Nth) that the superblock is
using is.  Whereas:

	struct fsinfo_params params = {
		.at_flags	= AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW,
		.request	= FSINFO_ATTR_AFS_CELL_NAME;
	};
	char cell_name[256];

	len = fsinfo(AT_FDCWD, "/afs/grand.central.org/doc", &params,
		     &cell_name, sizeof(cell_name));

would retrieve the name of an AFS cell as a string.

fsinfo() can also be used to query a context from fsopen() or fspick():

	fd = fsopen("ext4", 0);
	struct fsinfo_params params = {
		.request	= FSINFO_ATTR_PARAM_DESCRIPTION;
	};
	struct fsinfo_param_description desc;
	fsinfo(fd, NULL, &params, &desc, sizeof(desc));

even if that context doesn't currently have a superblock attached (though if
there's no superblock attached, only filesystem-specific things like parameter
descriptions can be accessed).

The patches can be found here also:

	https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/dhowells/linux-fs.git

on branch:

	fsinfo-core

Where are the tests and man page for this system call?  "Tests" meaning actual
automated tests in a commonly used test suite (e.g. LTP, kselftests, or
xfstests), not just a sample program.

- Eric