Linux 4.14.2 Fixes The BCache Corruption Bug

Written by Michael Larabel in Linux Kernel on 24 November 2017 at 07:09 AM EST. 11 Comments
LINUX KERNEL
Normally I don't bother mentioning new Linux kernel point releases on Phoronix unless there are some significant changes, as is the case today with Linux 4.14.2.

The Linux 4.14.2 kernel release is notable if you are using the BCache block layer cache as there are known cases of Linux 4.14 causing data corruption. That issue has been resolved with Linux 4.14.2. There's also the possibility of other data corruption within other areas of the block subsystem with the 4.14.0/4.14.1 kernel, but when using BCache is the most common corruption case.

For those not familiar with BCache, it's a means of pairing a larger capacity HDD with a smaller but faster SSD to serve as a read/write cache for Linux. Growing out of BCache as well has been the separate BCachefs file-system effort that is yet to be mainlined.


Details on that corruption problem are outlined in this Gentoo bug report and elsewhere. With Linux 4.14.2 changes is the bio: ensure __bio_clone_fast copies bi_partno patch due to new fields being introduced and being updated for the disk information not partition information "At minimum, this regressed bcache and caused data corruption."

Linux 4.14.2 can be grabbed from the usual sources.
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Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.

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