[PATCH] f2fs: keep atomic write retry from zeroing original data

From: Wenjie Qi

Date: Wed May 27 2026 - 08:08:49 EST


A partial atomic write reserves a block in the COW inode before reading the
original data page for the untouched bytes in that page.

If that read fails, write_begin returns an error but leaves the COW inode
entry as NEW_ADDR. A retry of the same partial write then finds the COW
entry, treats it as existing COW data, and f2fs_write_begin() zeroes the
whole folio because blkaddr is NEW_ADDR.

If the retry is committed, the bytes outside the retried write range are
committed as zeroes instead of preserving the original file contents.

Only use the COW inode as the read source when it already has a real data
block. If the COW entry is still NEW_ADDR, treat it as a reservation to
reuse: keep reading the old data from the original inode and avoid
reserving or accounting the same atomic block again.

Fixes: 3db1de0e582c ("f2fs: change the current atomic write way")
Signed-off-by: Wenjie Qi <qiwenjie@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
fs/f2fs/data.c | 16 +++++++++++-----
1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/f2fs/data.c b/fs/f2fs/data.c
index d83a21998ec2..edda2ff72073 100644
--- a/fs/f2fs/data.c
+++ b/fs/f2fs/data.c
@@ -3862,6 +3862,7 @@ static int prepare_atomic_write_begin(struct f2fs_sb_info *sbi,
pgoff_t index = folio->index;
int err = 0;
block_t ori_blk_addr = NULL_ADDR;
+ bool cow_has_reserved_block = false;

/* If pos is beyond the end of file, reserve a new block in COW inode */
if ((pos & PAGE_MASK) >= i_size_read(inode))
@@ -3871,9 +3872,11 @@ static int prepare_atomic_write_begin(struct f2fs_sb_info *sbi,
err = __find_data_block(cow_inode, index, blk_addr);
if (err) {
return err;
- } else if (*blk_addr != NULL_ADDR) {
+ } else if (__is_valid_data_blkaddr(*blk_addr)) {
*use_cow = true;
return 0;
+ } else if (*blk_addr == NEW_ADDR) {
+ cow_has_reserved_block = true;
}

if (is_inode_flag_set(inode, FI_ATOMIC_REPLACE))
@@ -3886,10 +3889,13 @@ static int prepare_atomic_write_begin(struct f2fs_sb_info *sbi,

reserve_block:
/* Finally, we should reserve a new block in COW inode for the update */
- err = __reserve_data_block(cow_inode, index, blk_addr, node_changed);
- if (err)
- return err;
- inc_atomic_write_cnt(inode);
+ if (!cow_has_reserved_block) {
+ err = __reserve_data_block(cow_inode, index, blk_addr,
+ node_changed);
+ if (err)
+ return err;
+ inc_atomic_write_cnt(inode);
+ }

if (ori_blk_addr != NULL_ADDR)
*blk_addr = ori_blk_addr;

base-commit: c0b65f6129c7fbb526e921dd60261650f1b2bef9
--
2.43.0