Directory is not persisted after writing to the file within directory if system crashes
From: Vyacheslav Kovalevsky
Date: Fri Oct 24 2025 - 11:21:54 EST
Under some circumstances, directory entry is not persisted after writing to the file inside the directory that was opened with `O_SYNC` flag if system crashes.
Detailed description
====================
Hello, we have found another issue with btrfs crash behavior.
In short, empty file is created and synced. Then, a new directory is created, old file is opened with `O_SYNC` flag and some data is written. After this, a new hard link is created inside the directory and the root is `fsync`ed (directory should persist). However, after a crash, the directory entry is missing even though data written to the old file was persisted.
System info
===========
Linux version 6.18.0-rc2, also tested on 6.14.11.
How to reproduce
================
```
#include <errno.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int main() {
int status;
int file_fd;
int root_fd;
status = creat("file1", S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG | S_IROTH | S_IXOTH);
printf("CREAT: %d\n", status);
// persist `file1`
sync();
status = mkdir("dir", S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG | S_IROTH | S_IXOTH);
printf("MKDIR: %d\n", status);
status = open("file1", O_WRONLY | O_SYNC);
printf("OPEN: %d\n", status);
file_fd = status;
status = write(file_fd, "Test data!", 10);
printf("WRITE: %d\n", status);
status = link("file1", "dir/file2");
printf("LINK: %d\n", status);
status = open(".", O_RDONLY | O_DIRECTORY);
printf("OPEN: %d\n", status);
root_fd = status;
// persist `dir`
status = fsync(root_fd);
printf("FSYNC: %d\n", status);
}
```
Steps:
1. Create and mount new btrfs file system in default configuration.
2. Change directory to root of the file system and run the compiled test.
3. Cause hard system crash (e.g. QEMU `system_reset` command).
4. Remount file system after crash.
5. Observe that `dir` directory is missing.
Notes:
- ext4 does persist `dir` and `dir/file2` even though it was not synced.
- xfs does persist `dir` but does not persist `dir/file2`.
P.S. Want to apologize for formatting in previous report, first time using Thunderbird and plain text.