When backporting ext4 for testing with RHEL5, I have found many upstream helpers and functions in the VFS which have been added that must be accommodated in order to build and run ext4 in a RHEL5 kernel. While these can be accommodated by modifying the ext4 source, it seems reasonable to me to backport these common helpers to the RHEL5 kernel when they are standalone, safe, small pieces of code. Examples: ERR_CAST() percpu_counter_sub() percpu_counter_add() le16_add_cpu() and friends inode_inc_iversion() clear_nlink() drop_nlink() is_owner_or_cap() etc. For the most part, these are mostly just helpful wrappers around existing bits of code, for common use cases. I'd like to propose backporting them to the RHEL5.3 kernel so that ext4, or other newer filesystems (perhaps eCryptfs) can be backported to RHEL5 with fewer modifications to the fs's code base. Having them in RHEL5.3 early would simplify building and testing ext4 against rhel5. There should be no material impact on existing RHEL5 code. Thanks, -Eric
in kernel-2.6.18-104.el5 You can download this test kernel from http://people.redhat.com/dzickus/el5
This bug (feature request) has been marked for inclusion in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 Release Notes. To aid in the development of relevant and accurate release notes, please fill out the "Release Notes" field above with the following 4 pieces of information: Cause: What actions or circumstances induced the feature request. Consequence: What action was inhibited by the feature's absence. Fix: What was done to implement the feature. Result: now happens when the actions or circumstances above occur. (NB: this is not the same as 'the feature request was fulfilled')
Clearing the release notes on this bug; this was just VFS helpers to facilitate early distribution & testing of the ext4 module. I don't think this bug in particular needs any release notes at all. Sorry for leaving the flag on for so long!
An advisory has been issued which should help the problem described in this bug report. This report is therefore being closed with a resolution of ERRATA. For more information on therefore solution and/or where to find the updated files, please follow the link below. You may reopen this bug report if the solution does not work for you. http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2009-0225.html