Documentation/filesystems/ext4/checksums.rst

.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0

Checksums
---------

Starting in early 2012, metadata checksums were added to all major ext4
and jbd2 data structures. The associated feature flag is metadata_csum.
The desired checksum algorithm is indicated in the superblock, though as
of October 2012 the only supported algorithm is crc32c. Some data
structures did not have space to fit a full 32-bit checksum, so only the
lower 16 bits are stored. Enabling the 64bit feature increases the data
structure size so that full 32-bit checksums can be stored for many data
structures. However, existing 32-bit filesystems cannot be extended to
enable 64bit mode, at least not without the experimental resize2fs
patches to do so.

Existing filesystems can have checksumming added by running
``tune2fs -O metadata_csum`` against the underlying device. If tune2fs
encounters directory blocks that lack sufficient empty space to add a
checksum, it will request that you run ``e2fsck -D`` to have the
directories rebuilt with checksums. This has the added benefit of
removing slack space from the directory files and rebalancing the htree
indexes. If you _ignore_ this step, your directories will not be
protected by a checksum!

The following table describes the data elements that go into each type
of checksum. The checksum function is whatever the superblock describes
(crc32c as of October 2013) unless noted otherwise.

.. list-table::
   :widths: 20 8 50
   :header-rows: 1

   * - Metadata
     - Length
     - Ingredients
   * - Superblock
     - __le32
     - The entire superblock up to the checksum field. The UUID lives inside
       the superblock.
   * - MMP
     - __le32
     - UUID + the entire MMP block up to the checksum field.
   * - Extended Attributes
     - __le32
     - UUID + the entire extended attribute block. The checksum field is set to
       zero.
   * - Directory Entries
     - __le32
     - UUID + inode number + inode generation + the directory block up to the
       fake entry enclosing the checksum field.
   * - HTREE Nodes
     - __le32
     - UUID + inode number + inode generation + all valid extents + HTREE tail.
       The checksum field is set to zero.
   * - Extents
     - __le32
     - UUID + inode number + inode generation + the entire extent block up to
       the checksum field.
   * - Bitmaps
     - __le32 or __le16
     - UUID + the entire bitmap. Checksums are stored in the group descriptor,
       and truncated if the group descriptor size is 32 bytes (i.e. ^64bit)
   * - Inodes
     - __le32
     - UUID + inode number + inode generation + the entire inode. The checksum
       field is set to zero. Each inode has its own checksum.
   * - Group Descriptors
     - __le16
     - If metadata_csum, then UUID + group number + the entire descriptor;
       else if gdt_csum, then crc16(UUID + group number + the entire
       descriptor). In all cases, only the lower 16 bits are stored.