Andrew Morton wrote:

The "unclean" term doesn't seem a good fit.  It usually means "has
in-memory data which needs writing back".  But here you've redefined
"unclean" to mean "got an IO error" or "detected metadata
inconsistency", or perhaps "dunno, please run fsck to find out".  This
all should be spelled out in exacting detail and thought about, please.

I agree.  "unclean" (or "dirty") should be reserved for indicating
that the filesystem has been modified, that is, files written to etc.

Use another term like "fault" or "error"?

-- Jamie