ext4: add max_dir_size_kb mount option
Very large directories can cause significant performance problems, or
perhaps even invoke the OOM killer, if the process is running in a
highly constrained memory environment (whether it is VM's with a small
amount of memory or in a small memory cgroup).
So it is useful, in cloud server/data center environments, to be able
to set a filesystem-wide cap on the maximum size of a directory, to
ensure that directories never get larger than a sane size. We do this
via a new mount option, max_dir_size_kb. If there is an attempt to
grow the directory larger than max_dir_size_kb, the system call will
return ENOSPC instead.
Google-Bug-Id: 6863013
Signed-off-by: "Theodore Ts'o" <tytso@mit.edu>
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/ext4.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/ext4.txt
index 1b7f9ac..104322b 100644
--- a/Documentation/filesystems/ext4.txt
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/ext4.txt
@@ -375,6 +375,16 @@
Because of the restrictions this options comprises
it is off by default (e.g. dioread_lock).
+max_dir_size_kb=n This limits the size of directories so that any
+ attempt to expand them beyond the specified
+ limit in kilobytes will cause an ENOSPC error.
+ This is useful in memory constrained
+ environments, where a very large directory can
+ cause severe performance problems or even
+ provoke the Out Of Memory killer. (For example,
+ if there is only 512mb memory available, a 176mb
+ directory may seriously cramp the system's style.)
+
i_version Enable 64-bit inode version support. This option is
off by default.