Hey Hugo, Thanks for the advice. I will look into this today :). Cheers Nick
On Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 4:02 AM, Hugo Mills <h...@carfax.org.uk> wrote: > On Thu, Jul 24, 2014 at 11:06:34PM -0400, Nick Krause wrote: >> On Thu, Jul 24, 2014 at 10:32 PM, Duncan <1i5t5.dun...@cox.net> wrote: > [snip] >> Hey Duncan and others , >> I have read this and this seems to need some working on. >> If you want my help please ask , I am new to the kernel >> so I may ask a dumb question or two but if that's fine with >> you I have no problem helping out here. I would like >> a log of printk statements leading to the hand if that's >> not too much work in order for me to trace this back. > > Note that btrfs is complex -- there's something around 100k lines > of code in it. My first piece of kernel work in btrfs was simply > documenting the way that the on-disk data structures related to each > other[1]. That on its own took me two to three weeks of solid > full-time effort, reading the code to find where each structure was > used and how its elements related to other structures. You can't just > wander up and dive in without putting in the effort of learning first. > Whilst people will help you (come over to #btrfs on Freenode for more > real-time interaction), they can't do the basic work of sitting down > and understanding the code in detail for you. > > Chris, who designed and wrote the filesystem, has spent the last > couple of weeks tracking down this particular problem. Do you think > it's appropriate to leap into the middle of the discussion on this > subtle bug as someone with absolutely no experience in the area? > > Your first task is to reproduce the bug on your own machine. If you > can do that, _then_ you might be able to start tracking down its > cause. But I wouldn't recommend doing that, as (a) it's a nasty subtle > bug, and (b) Chris seems to be close to tracking it down anyway. > > My recommendations for you, if you want to work on btrfs, are: > > * Build and install the latest kernel from Linus's git repo > > * Read and understand the user documentation [2] > > * Create one or several btrfs filesystems with different > configurations and learn how they work in userspace -- what are the > features, what are the problems you see? Actually use at least one > of the filesystems you created for real data in daily use (with > backups) > > * Build the userspace tools from git > > * Pick up one of the userspace projects from [3] and implement that. > If you pick the right one(s), you'll have to learn about some of > the internal structures of the FS anyway. Compile and test your > patch. If you're adding a new feature, write an automated xfstest > for it as well. > > * Get that patch accepted. This will probably involve a sequence of > revisions to it, multiple versions over a period of several weeks > or more, with a review process. You should also send your test to > xfstests and get that accepted. > > * Do the above again, until you get used to the processes involved, > and have demonstrated that you can work well with the other people > in the subsystem, and are generally producing useful and sane code. > It's all about trust -- can you be trusted to mostly do the right > thing? (So far on linux-kernel, you've rather demonstrated the > opposite: your intentions are good, but your execution leaves a lot > to be desired) > > * Use the documentation at [4], and the output of btrfs-debug-tree to > understand the internal structure of the FS > > * Pick up one of the smaller, more self-contained ideas from the > projects page [5] (say, [6] or [7]) and try to implement it. Again: > build, write test code, test thoroughly, submit patch for review, > modify as suggested by reviewers, and repeat as often as necessary > > Hugo. > > [1] https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Data_Structures > [2] > https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page#Guides_and_usage_information > [3] > https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Project_ideas#Userspace_tools_projects > [4] https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page#Developer_documentation > [5] https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Project_ideas > [6] > https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Project_ideas#Cancellable_operations > [7] > https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Project_ideas#Implement_new_FALLOC_FL_.2A_modes > > -- > === Hugo Mills: hugo@... carfax.org.uk | darksatanic.net | lug.org.uk === > PGP key: 65E74AC0 from wwwkeys.eu.pgp.net or http://www.carfax.org.uk > --- But people have always eaten people, / what else is there to --- > eat? / If the Juju had meant us not to eat people / he > wouldn't have made us of meat. -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
