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diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..1c244866041a --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst @@ -0,0 +1,782 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +Written by: Neil Brown +Please see MAINTAINERS file for where to send questions. + +Overlay Filesystem +================== + +This document describes a prototype for a new approach to providing +overlay-filesystem functionality in Linux (sometimes referred to as +union-filesystems). An overlay-filesystem tries to present a +filesystem which is the result over overlaying one filesystem on top +of the other. + + +Overlay objects +--------------- + +The overlay filesystem approach is 'hybrid', because the objects that +appear in the filesystem do not always appear to belong to that filesystem. +In many cases, an object accessed in the union will be indistinguishable +from accessing the corresponding object from the original filesystem. +This is most obvious from the 'st_dev' field returned by stat(2). + +While directories will report an st_dev from the overlay-filesystem, +non-directory objects may report an st_dev from the lower filesystem or +upper filesystem that is providing the object. Similarly st_ino will +only be unique when combined with st_dev, and both of these can change +over the lifetime of a non-directory object. Many applications and +tools ignore these values and will not be affected. + +In the special case of all overlay layers on the same underlying +filesystem, all objects will report an st_dev from the overlay +filesystem and st_ino from the underlying filesystem. This will +make the overlay mount more compliant with filesystem scanners and +overlay objects will be distinguishable from the corresponding +objects in the original filesystem. + +On 64bit systems, even if all overlay layers are not on the same +underlying filesystem, the same compliant behavior could be achieved +with the "xino" feature. The "xino" feature composes a unique object +identifier from the real object st_ino and an underlying fsid number. +The "xino" feature uses the high inode number bits for fsid, because the +underlying filesystems rarely use the high inode number bits. In case +the underlying inode number does overflow into the high xino bits, overlay +filesystem will fall back to the non xino behavior for that inode. + +The "xino" feature can be enabled with the "-o xino=on" overlay mount option. +If all underlying filesystems support NFS file handles, the value of st_ino +for overlay filesystem objects is not only unique, but also persistent over +the lifetime of the filesystem. The "-o xino=auto" overlay mount option +enables the "xino" feature only if the persistent st_ino requirement is met. + +The following table summarizes what can be expected in different overlay +configurations. + +Inode properties +```````````````` + ++--------------+------------+------------+-----------------+----------------+ +|Configuration | Persistent | Uniform | st_ino == d_ino | d_ino == i_ino | +| | st_ino | st_dev | | [*] | ++==============+=====+======+=====+======+========+========+========+=======+ +| | dir | !dir | dir | !dir | dir + !dir | dir | !dir | ++--------------+-----+------+-----+------+--------+--------+--------+-------+ +| All layers | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | +| on same fs | | | | | | | | | ++--------------+-----+------+-----+------+--------+--------+--------+-------+ +| Layers not | N | N | Y | N | N | Y | N | Y | +| on same fs, | | | | | | | | | +| xino=off | | | | | | | | | ++--------------+-----+------+-----+------+--------+--------+--------+-------+ +| xino=on/auto | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ++--------------+-----+------+-----+------+--------+--------+--------+-------+ +| xino=on/auto,| N | N | Y | N | N | Y | N | Y | +| ino overflow | | | | | | | | | ++--------------+-----+------+-----+------+--------+--------+--------+-------+ + +[*] nfsd v3 readdirplus verifies d_ino == i_ino. i_ino is exposed via several +/proc files, such as /proc/locks and /proc/self/fdinfo/<fd> of an inotify +file descriptor. + +Upper and Lower +--------------- + +An overlay filesystem combines two filesystems - an 'upper' filesystem +and a 'lower' filesystem. When a name exists in both filesystems, the +object in the 'upper' filesystem is visible while the object in the +'lower' filesystem is either hidden or, in the case of directories, +merged with the 'upper' object. + +It would be more correct to refer to an upper and lower 'directory +tree' rather than 'filesystem' as it is quite possible for both +directory trees to be in the same filesystem and there is no +requirement that the root of a filesystem be given for either upper or +lower. + +A wide range of filesystems supported by Linux can be the lower filesystem, +but not all filesystems that are mountable by Linux have the features +needed for OverlayFS to work. The lower filesystem does not need to be +writable. The lower filesystem can even be another overlayfs. The upper +filesystem will normally be writable and if it is it must support the +creation of trusted.* and/or user.* extended attributes, and must provide +valid d_type in readdir responses, so NFS is not suitable. + +A read-only overlay of two read-only filesystems may use any +filesystem type. + +Directories +----------- + +Overlaying mainly involves directories. If a given name appears in both +upper and lower filesystems and refers to a non-directory in either, +then the lower object is hidden - the name refers only to the upper +object. + +Where both upper and lower objects are directories, a merged directory +is formed. + +At mount time, the two directories given as mount options "lowerdir" and +"upperdir" are combined into a merged directory:: + + mount -t overlay overlay -olowerdir=/lower,upperdir=/upper,\ + workdir=/work /merged + +The "workdir" needs to be an empty directory on the same filesystem +as upperdir. + +Then whenever a lookup is requested in such a merged directory, the +lookup is performed in each actual directory and the combined result +is cached in the dentry belonging to the overlay filesystem. If both +actual lookups find directories, both are stored and a merged +directory is created, otherwise only one is stored: the upper if it +exists, else the lower. + +Only the lists of names from directories are merged. Other content +such as metadata and extended attributes are reported for the upper +directory only. These attributes of the lower directory are hidden. + +whiteouts and opaque directories +-------------------------------- + +In order to support rm and rmdir without changing the lower +filesystem, an overlay filesystem needs to record in the upper filesystem +that files have been removed. This is done using whiteouts and opaque +directories (non-directories are always opaque). + +A whiteout is created as a character device with 0/0 device number. +When a whiteout is found in the upper level of a merged directory, any +matching name in the lower level is ignored, and the whiteout itself +is also hidden. + +A directory is made opaque by setting the xattr "trusted.overlay.opaque" +to "y". Where the upper filesystem contains an opaque directory, any +directory in the lower filesystem with the same name is ignored. + +readdir +------- + +When a 'readdir' request is made on a merged directory, the upper and +lower directories are each read and the name lists merged in the +obvious way (upper is read first, then lower - entries that already +exist are not re-added). This merged name list is cached in the +'struct file' and so remains as long as the file is kept open. If the +directory is opened and read by two processes at the same time, they +will each have separate caches. A seekdir to the start of the +directory (offset 0) followed by a readdir will cause the cache to be +discarded and rebuilt. + +This means that changes to the merged directory do not appear while a +directory is being read. This is unlikely to be noticed by many +programs. + +seek offsets are assigned sequentially when the directories are read. +Thus if: + + - read part of a directory + - remember an offset, and close the directory + - re-open the directory some time later + - seek to the remembered offset + +there may be little correlation between the old and new locations in +the list of filenames, particularly if anything has changed in the +directory. + +Readdir on directories that are not merged is simply handled by the +underlying directory (upper or lower). + +renaming directories +-------------------- + +When renaming a directory that is on the lower layer or merged (i.e. the +directory was not created on the upper layer to start with) overlayfs can +handle it in two different ways: + +1. return EXDEV error: this error is returned by rename(2) when trying to + move a file or directory across filesystem boundaries. Hence + applications are usually prepared to handle this error (mv(1) for example + recursively copies the directory tree). This is the default behavior. + +2. If the "redirect_dir" feature is enabled, then the directory will be + copied up (but not the contents). Then the "trusted.overlay.redirect" + extended attribute is set to the path of the original location from the + root of the overlay. Finally the directory is moved to the new + location. + +There are several ways to tune the "redirect_dir" feature. + +Kernel config options: + +- OVERLAY_FS_REDIRECT_DIR: + If this is enabled, then redirect_dir is turned on by default. +- OVERLAY_FS_REDIRECT_ALWAYS_FOLLOW: + If this is enabled, then redirects are always followed by default. Enabling + this results in a less secure configuration. Enable this option only when + worried about backward compatibility with kernels that have the redirect_dir + feature and follow redirects even if turned off. + +Module options (can also be changed through /sys/module/overlay/parameters/): + +- "redirect_dir=BOOL": + See OVERLAY_FS_REDIRECT_DIR kernel config option above. +- "redirect_always_follow=BOOL": + See OVERLAY_FS_REDIRECT_ALWAYS_FOLLOW kernel config option above. +- "redirect_max=NUM": + The maximum number of bytes in an absolute redirect (default is 256). + +Mount options: + +- "redirect_dir=on": + Redirects are enabled. +- "redirect_dir=follow": + Redirects are not created, but followed. +- "redirect_dir=nofollow": + Redirects are not created and not followed. +- "redirect_dir=off": + If "redirect_always_follow" is enabled in the kernel/module config, + this "off" translates to "follow", otherwise it translates to "nofollow". + +When the NFS export feature is enabled, every copied up directory is +indexed by the file handle of the lower inode and a file handle of the +upper directory is stored in a "trusted.overlay.upper" extended attribute +on the index entry. On lookup of a merged directory, if the upper +directory does not match the file handle stores in the index, that is an +indication that multiple upper directories may be redirected to the same +lower directory. In that case, lookup returns an error and warns about +a possible inconsistency. + +Because lower layer redirects cannot be verified with the index, enabling +NFS export support on an overlay filesystem with no upper layer requires +turning off redirect follow (e.g. "redirect_dir=nofollow"). + + +Non-directories +--------------- + +Objects that are not directories (files, symlinks, device-special +files etc.) are presented either from the upper or lower filesystem as +appropriate. When a file in the lower filesystem is accessed in a way +the requires write-access, such as opening for write access, changing +some metadata etc., the file is first copied from the lower filesystem +to the upper filesystem (copy_up). Note that creating a hard-link +also requires copy_up, though of course creation of a symlink does +not. + +The copy_up may turn out to be unnecessary, for example if the file is +opened for read-write but the data is not modified. + +The copy_up process first makes sure that the containing directory +exists in the upper filesystem - creating it and any parents as +necessary. It then creates the object with the same metadata (owner, +mode, mtime, symlink-target etc.) and then if the object is a file, the +data is copied from the lower to the upper filesystem. Finally any +extended attributes are copied up. + +Once the copy_up is complete, the overlay filesystem simply +provides direct access to the newly created file in the upper +filesystem - future operations on the file are barely noticed by the +overlay filesystem (though an operation on the name of the file such as +rename or unlink will of course be noticed and handled). + + +Permission model +---------------- + +Permission checking in the overlay filesystem follows these principles: + + 1) permission check SHOULD return the same result before and after copy up + + 2) task creating the overlay mount MUST NOT gain additional privileges + + 3) non-mounting task MAY gain additional privileges through the overlay, + compared to direct access on underlying lower or upper filesystems + +This is achieved by performing two permission checks on each access: + + a) check if current task is allowed access based on local DAC (owner, + group, mode and posix acl), as well as MAC checks + + b) check if mounting task would be allowed real operation on lower or + upper layer based on underlying filesystem permissions, again including + MAC checks + +Check (a) ensures consistency (1) since owner, group, mode and posix acls +are copied up. On the other hand it can result in server enforced +permissions (used by NFS, for example) being ignored (3). + +Check (b) ensures that no task gains permissions to underlying layers that +the mounting task does not have (2). This also means that it is possible +to create setups where the consistency rule (1) does not hold; normally, +however, the mounting task will have sufficient privileges to perform all +operations. + +Another way to demonstrate this model is drawing parallels between:: + + mount -t overlay overlay -olowerdir=/lower,upperdir=/upper,... /merged + +and:: + + cp -a /lower /upper + mount --bind /upper /merged + +The resulting access permissions should be the same. The difference is in +the time of copy (on-demand vs. up-front). + + +Multiple lower layers +--------------------- + +Multiple lower layers can now be given using the colon (":") as a +separator character between the directory names. For example:: + + mount -t overlay overlay -olowerdir=/lower1:/lower2:/lower3 /merged + +As the example shows, "upperdir=" and "workdir=" may be omitted. In +that case the overlay will be read-only. + +The specified lower directories will be stacked beginning from the +rightmost one and going left. In the above example lower1 will be the +top, lower2 the middle and lower3 the bottom layer. + +Note: directory names containing colons can be provided as lower layer by +escaping the colons with a single backslash. For example:: + + mount -t overlay overlay -olowerdir=/a\:lower\:\:dir /merged + +Since kernel version v6.8, directory names containing colons can also +be configured as lower layer using the "lowerdir+" mount options and the +fsconfig syscall from new mount api. For example:: + + fsconfig(fs_fd, FSCONFIG_SET_STRING, "lowerdir+", "/a:lower::dir", 0); + +In the latter case, colons in lower layer directory names will be escaped +as an octal characters (\072) when displayed in /proc/self/mountinfo. + +Metadata only copy up +--------------------- + +When the "metacopy" feature is enabled, overlayfs will only copy +up metadata (as opposed to whole file), when a metadata specific operation +like chown/chmod is performed. Full file will be copied up later when +file is opened for WRITE operation. + +In other words, this is delayed data copy up operation and data is copied +up when there is a need to actually modify data. + +There are multiple ways to enable/disable this feature. A config option +CONFIG_OVERLAY_FS_METACOPY can be set/unset to enable/disable this feature +by default. Or one can enable/disable it at module load time with module +parameter metacopy=on/off. Lastly, there is also a per mount option +metacopy=on/off to enable/disable this feature per mount. + +Do not use metacopy=on with untrusted upper/lower directories. Otherwise +it is possible that an attacker can create a handcrafted file with +appropriate REDIRECT and METACOPY xattrs, and gain access to file on lower +pointed by REDIRECT. This should not be possible on local system as setting +"trusted." xattrs will require CAP_SYS_ADMIN. But it should be possible +for untrusted layers like from a pen drive. + +Note: redirect_dir={off|nofollow|follow[*]} and nfs_export=on mount options +conflict with metacopy=on, and will result in an error. + +[*] redirect_dir=follow only conflicts with metacopy=on if upperdir=... is +given. + + +Data-only lower layers +---------------------- + +With "metacopy" feature enabled, an overlayfs regular file may be a composition +of information from up to three different layers: + + 1) metadata from a file in the upper layer + + 2) st_ino and st_dev object identifier from a file in a lower layer + + 3) data from a file in another lower layer (further below) + +The "lower data" file can be on any lower layer, except from the top most +lower layer. + +Below the top most lower layer, any number of lower most layers may be defined +as "data-only" lower layers, using double colon ("::") separators. +A normal lower layer is not allowed to be below a data-only layer, so single +colon separators are not allowed to the right of double colon ("::") separators. + + +For example:: + + mount -t overlay overlay -olowerdir=/l1:/l2:/l3::/do1::/do2 /merged + +The paths of files in the "data-only" lower layers are not visible in the +merged overlayfs directories and the metadata and st_ino/st_dev of files +in the "data-only" lower layers are not visible in overlayfs inodes. + +Only the data of the files in the "data-only" lower layers may be visible +when a "metacopy" file in one of the lower layers above it, has a "redirect" +to the absolute path of the "lower data" file in the "data-only" lower layer. + +Since kernel version v6.8, "data-only" lower layers can also be added using +the "datadir+" mount options and the fsconfig syscall from new mount api. +For example:: + + fsconfig(fs_fd, FSCONFIG_SET_STRING, "lowerdir+", "/l1", 0); + fsconfig(fs_fd, FSCONFIG_SET_STRING, "lowerdir+", "/l2", 0); + fsconfig(fs_fd, FSCONFIG_SET_STRING, "lowerdir+", "/l3", 0); + fsconfig(fs_fd, FSCONFIG_SET_STRING, "datadir+", "/do1", 0); + fsconfig(fs_fd, FSCONFIG_SET_STRING, "datadir+", "/do2", 0); + + +fs-verity support +----------------- + +During metadata copy up of a lower file, if the source file has +fs-verity enabled and overlay verity support is enabled, then the +digest of the lower file is added to the "trusted.overlay.metacopy" +xattr. This is then used to verify the content of the lower file +each the time the metacopy file is opened. + +When a layer containing verity xattrs is used, it means that any such +metacopy file in the upper layer is guaranteed to match the content +that was in the lower at the time of the copy-up. If at any time +(during a mount, after a remount, etc) such a file in the lower is +replaced or modified in any way, access to the corresponding file in +overlayfs will result in EIO errors (either on open, due to overlayfs +digest check, or from a later read due to fs-verity) and a detailed +error is printed to the kernel logs. For more details of how fs-verity +file access works, see :ref:`Documentation/filesystems/fsverity.rst +<accessing_verity_files>`. + +Verity can be used as a general robustness check to detect accidental +changes in the overlayfs directories in use. But, with additional care +it can also give more powerful guarantees. For example, if the upper +layer is fully trusted (by using dm-verity or something similar), then +an untrusted lower layer can be used to supply validated file content +for all metacopy files. If additionally the untrusted lower +directories are specified as "Data-only", then they can only supply +such file content, and the entire mount can be trusted to match the +upper layer. + +This feature is controlled by the "verity" mount option, which +supports these values: + +- "off": + The metacopy digest is never generated or used. This is the + default if verity option is not specified. +- "on": + Whenever a metacopy files specifies an expected digest, the + corresponding data file must match the specified digest. When + generating a metacopy file the verity digest will be set in it + based on the source file (if it has one). +- "require": + Same as "on", but additionally all metacopy files must specify a + digest (or EIO is returned on open). This means metadata copy up + will only be used if the data file has fs-verity enabled, + otherwise a full copy-up is used. + +Sharing and copying layers +-------------------------- + +Lower layers may be shared among several overlay mounts and that is indeed +a very common practice. An overlay mount may use the same lower layer +path as another overlay mount and it may use a lower layer path that is +beneath or above the path of another overlay lower layer path. + +Using an upper layer path and/or a workdir path that are already used by +another overlay mount is not allowed and may fail with EBUSY. Using +partially overlapping paths is not allowed and may fail with EBUSY. +If files are accessed from two overlayfs mounts which share or overlap the +upper layer and/or workdir path the behavior of the overlay is undefined, +though it will not result in a crash or deadlock. + +Mounting an overlay using an upper layer path, where the upper layer path +was previously used by another mounted overlay in combination with a +different lower layer path, is allowed, unless the "index" or "metacopy" +features are enabled. + +With the "index" feature, on the first time mount, an NFS file +handle of the lower layer root directory, along with the UUID of the lower +filesystem, are encoded and stored in the "trusted.overlay.origin" extended +attribute on the upper layer root directory. On subsequent mount attempts, +the lower root directory file handle and lower filesystem UUID are compared +to the stored origin in upper root directory. On failure to verify the +lower root origin, mount will fail with ESTALE. An overlayfs mount with +"index" enabled will fail with EOPNOTSUPP if the lower filesystem +does not support NFS export, lower filesystem does not have a valid UUID or +if the upper filesystem does not support extended attributes. + +For the "metacopy" feature, there is no verification mechanism at +mount time. So if same upper is mounted with different set of lower, mount +probably will succeed but expect the unexpected later on. So don't do it. + +It is quite a common practice to copy overlay layers to a different +directory tree on the same or different underlying filesystem, and even +to a different machine. With the "index" feature, trying to mount +the copied layers will fail the verification of the lower root file handle. + +Nesting overlayfs mounts +------------------------ + +It is possible to use a lower directory that is stored on an overlayfs +mount. For regular files this does not need any special care. However, files +that have overlayfs attributes, such as whiteouts or "overlay.*" xattrs will be +interpreted by the underlying overlayfs mount and stripped out. In order to +allow the second overlayfs mount to see the attributes they must be escaped. + +Overlayfs specific xattrs are escaped by using a special prefix of +"overlay.overlay.". So, a file with a "trusted.overlay.overlay.metacopy" xattr +in the lower dir will be exposed as a regular file with a +"trusted.overlay.metacopy" xattr in the overlayfs mount. This can be nested by +repeating the prefix multiple time, as each instance only removes one prefix. + +A lower dir with a regular whiteout will always be handled by the overlayfs +mount, so to support storing an effective whiteout file in an overlayfs mount an +alternative form of whiteout is supported. This form is a regular, zero-size +file with the "overlay.whiteout" xattr set, inside a directory with the +"overlay.whiteouts" xattr set. Such whiteouts are never created by overlayfs, +but can be used by userspace tools (like containers) that generate lower layers. +These alternative whiteouts can be escaped using the standard xattr escape +mechanism in order to properly nest to any depth. + +Non-standard behavior +--------------------- + +Current version of overlayfs can act as a mostly POSIX compliant +filesystem. + +This is the list of cases that overlayfs doesn't currently handle: + + a) POSIX mandates updating st_atime for reads. This is currently not + done in the case when the file resides on a lower layer. + + b) If a file residing on a lower layer is opened for read-only and then + memory mapped with MAP_SHARED, then subsequent changes to the file are not + reflected in the memory mapping. + + c) If a file residing on a lower layer is being executed, then opening that + file for write or truncating the file will not be denied with ETXTBSY. + +The following options allow overlayfs to act more like a standards +compliant filesystem: + +redirect_dir +```````````` + +Enabled with the mount option or module option: "redirect_dir=on" or with +the kernel config option CONFIG_OVERLAY_FS_REDIRECT_DIR=y. + +If this feature is disabled, then rename(2) on a lower or merged directory +will fail with EXDEV ("Invalid cross-device link"). + +index +````` + +Enabled with the mount option or module option "index=on" or with the +kernel config option CONFIG_OVERLAY_FS_INDEX=y. + +If this feature is disabled and a file with multiple hard links is copied +up, then this will "break" the link. Changes will not be propagated to +other names referring to the same inode. + +xino +```` + +Enabled with the mount option "xino=auto" or "xino=on", with the module +option "xino_auto=on" or with the kernel config option +CONFIG_OVERLAY_FS_XINO_AUTO=y. Also implicitly enabled by using the same +underlying filesystem for all layers making up the overlay. + +If this feature is disabled or the underlying filesystem doesn't have +enough free bits in the inode number, then overlayfs will not be able to +guarantee that the values of st_ino and st_dev returned by stat(2) and the +value of d_ino returned by readdir(3) will act like on a normal filesystem. +E.g. the value of st_dev may be different for two objects in the same +overlay filesystem and the value of st_ino for filesystem objects may not be +persistent and could change even while the overlay filesystem is mounted, as +summarized in the `Inode properties`_ table above. + + +Changes to underlying filesystems +--------------------------------- + +Changes to the underlying filesystems while part of a mounted overlay +filesystem are not allowed. If the underlying filesystem is changed, +the behavior of the overlay is undefined, though it will not result in +a crash or deadlock. + +Offline changes, when the overlay is not mounted, are allowed to the +upper tree. Offline changes to the lower tree are only allowed if the +"metacopy", "index", "xino" and "redirect_dir" features +have not been used. If the lower tree is modified and any of these +features has been used, the behavior of the overlay is undefined, +though it will not result in a crash or deadlock. + +When the overlay NFS export feature is enabled, overlay filesystems +behavior on offline changes of the underlying lower layer is different +than the behavior when NFS export is disabled. + +On every copy_up, an NFS file handle of the lower inode, along with the +UUID of the lower filesystem, are encoded and stored in an extended +attribute "trusted.overlay.origin" on the upper inode. + +When the NFS export feature is enabled, a lookup of a merged directory, +that found a lower directory at the lookup path or at the path pointed +to by the "trusted.overlay.redirect" extended attribute, will verify +that the found lower directory file handle and lower filesystem UUID +match the origin file handle that was stored at copy_up time. If a +found lower directory does not match the stored origin, that directory +will not be merged with the upper directory. + + + +NFS export +---------- + +When the underlying filesystems supports NFS export and the "nfs_export" +feature is enabled, an overlay filesystem may be exported to NFS. + +With the "nfs_export" feature, on copy_up of any lower object, an index +entry is created under the index directory. The index entry name is the +hexadecimal representation of the copy up origin file handle. For a +non-directory object, the index entry is a hard link to the upper inode. +For a directory object, the index entry has an extended attribute +"trusted.overlay.upper" with an encoded file handle of the upper +directory inode. + +When encoding a file handle from an overlay filesystem object, the +following rules apply: + + 1. For a non-upper object, encode a lower file handle from lower inode + 2. For an indexed object, encode a lower file handle from copy_up origin + 3. For a pure-upper object and for an existing non-indexed upper object, + encode an upper file handle from upper inode + +The encoded overlay file handle includes: + + - Header including path type information (e.g. lower/upper) + - UUID of the underlying filesystem + - Underlying filesystem encoding of underlying inode + +This encoding format is identical to the encoding format file handles that +are stored in extended attribute "trusted.overlay.origin". + +When decoding an overlay file handle, the following steps are followed: + + 1. Find underlying layer by UUID and path type information. + 2. Decode the underlying filesystem file handle to underlying dentry. + 3. For a lower file handle, lookup the handle in index directory by name. + 4. If a whiteout is found in index, return ESTALE. This represents an + overlay object that was deleted after its file handle was encoded. + 5. For a non-directory, instantiate a disconnected overlay dentry from the + decoded underlying dentry, the path type and index inode, if found. + 6. For a directory, use the connected underlying decoded dentry, path type + and index, to lookup a connected overlay dentry. + +Decoding a non-directory file handle may return a disconnected dentry. +copy_up of that disconnected dentry will create an upper index entry with +no upper alias. + +When overlay filesystem has multiple lower layers, a middle layer +directory may have a "redirect" to lower directory. Because middle layer +"redirects" are not indexed, a lower file handle that was encoded from the +"redirect" origin directory, cannot be used to find the middle or upper +layer directory. Similarly, a lower file handle that was encoded from a +descendant of the "redirect" origin directory, cannot be used to +reconstruct a connected overlay path. To mitigate the cases of +directories that cannot be decoded from a lower file handle, these +directories are copied up on encode and encoded as an upper file handle. +On an overlay filesystem with no upper layer this mitigation cannot be +used NFS export in this setup requires turning off redirect follow (e.g. +"redirect_dir=nofollow"). + +The overlay filesystem does not support non-directory connectable file +handles, so exporting with the 'subtree_check' exportfs configuration will +cause failures to lookup files over NFS. + +When the NFS export feature is enabled, all directory index entries are +verified on mount time to check that upper file handles are not stale. +This verification may cause significant overhead in some cases. + +Note: the mount options index=off,nfs_export=on are conflicting for a +read-write mount and will result in an error. + +Note: the mount option uuid=off can be used to replace UUID of the underlying +filesystem in file handles with null, and effectively disable UUID checks. This +can be useful in case the underlying disk is copied and the UUID of this copy +is changed. This is only applicable if all lower/upper/work directories are on +the same filesystem, otherwise it will fallback to normal behaviour. + + +UUID and fsid +------------- + +The UUID of overlayfs instance itself and the fsid reported by statfs(2) are +controlled by the "uuid" mount option, which supports these values: + +- "null": + UUID of overlayfs is null. fsid is taken from upper most filesystem. +- "off": + UUID of overlayfs is null. fsid is taken from upper most filesystem. + UUID of underlying layers is ignored. +- "on": + UUID of overlayfs is generated and used to report a unique fsid. + UUID is stored in xattr "trusted.overlay.uuid", making overlayfs fsid + unique and persistent. This option requires an overlayfs with upper + filesystem that supports xattrs. +- "auto": (default) + UUID is taken from xattr "trusted.overlay.uuid" if it exists. + Upgrade to "uuid=on" on first time mount of new overlay filesystem that + meets the prerequites. + Downgrade to "uuid=null" for existing overlay filesystems that were never + mounted with "uuid=on". + + +Volatile mount +-------------- + +This is enabled with the "volatile" mount option. Volatile mounts are not +guaranteed to survive a crash. It is strongly recommended that volatile +mounts are only used if data written to the overlay can be recreated +without significant effort. + +The advantage of mounting with the "volatile" option is that all forms of +sync calls to the upper filesystem are omitted. + +In order to avoid a giving a false sense of safety, the syncfs (and fsync) +semantics of volatile mounts are slightly different than that of the rest of +VFS. If any writeback error occurs on the upperdir's filesystem after a +volatile mount takes place, all sync functions will return an error. Once this +condition is reached, the filesystem will not recover, and every subsequent sync +call will return an error, even if the upperdir has not experience a new error +since the last sync call. + +When overlay is mounted with "volatile" option, the directory +"$workdir/work/incompat/volatile" is created. During next mount, overlay +checks for this directory and refuses to mount if present. This is a strong +indicator that user should throw away upper and work directories and create +fresh one. In very limited cases where the user knows that the system has +not crashed and contents of upperdir are intact, The "volatile" directory +can be removed. + + +User xattr +---------- + +The "-o userxattr" mount option forces overlayfs to use the +"user.overlay." xattr namespace instead of "trusted.overlay.". This is +useful for unprivileged mounting of overlayfs. + + +Testsuite +--------- + +There's a testsuite originally developed by David Howells and currently +maintained by Amir Goldstein at: + +https://github.com/amir73il/unionmount-testsuite.git + +Run as root:: + + # cd unionmount-testsuite + # ./run --ov --verify |