On Thu, 1 Feb 2007, Andrew Morton wrote:
> On Thu, 1 Feb 2007 15:34:29 -0800
> bugme-daemon@bugzilla.kernel.org wrote:
>
> > http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7919


> >
> >            Summary: Tape dies if wrong block size used
> >     Kernel Version: 2.6.20-rc5
> >             Status: NEW
> >           Severity: normal
> >              Owner: scsi_drivers-other@kernel-bugs.osdl.org
> >          Submitter: dmartin@sccd.ctc.edu
> >
> >
> > Most recent kernel where this bug did *NOT* occur: 2.6.17.14
> >
> > Other Kernels Tested and Results:
> >
> >     OK 2.6.15.7
> >     OK 2.6.16.37
> >     OK 2.6.17.14
> >     BAD 2.6.18.6
> >     BAD 2.6.18-1.2869.fc6
> >     BAD 2.6.19.2 +
> >     BAD 2.6.20-rc5
> >
> > NOTE: 2.6.18-1.2869.fc6 is a Fedora modified kernel, all others are from kernel.org
> >
...
> > Steps to reproduce:
> > Get a Adaptec AHA-2940U/UW/D / AIC-7881U card and a tape drive,
> > install a recent kernel
> > set the tape block size - mt setblk 4096
> > read from or write to tape using wrong block size - tar -b 7 -cvf /dev/tape foo
> >
Write does not trigger this bug because the driver refuses in fixed block
mode writes that are not a multiple of the block size. Read does trigger
it in my system.

The bug is not associated with any specific HBA. st tries to do direct i/o
in fixed block mode with reads that are not a multiple of tape block size.

The patch in this message fixes the st problem by switching to using the
driver buffer up to the next close of the device file in fixed block mode
if the user asks for a read like this.

I don't know why the bug has surfaced only after 2.6.17 although the st
problem is old. There may be another bug in the block subsystem and this
patch works around it. However, the patch fixes a problem in st and in
this way it is a valid fix.

This patch may also fix the bug 7900.

The patch compiles and is lightly tested.

Signed-off-by: Kai Makisara <kai.makisara@kolumbus.fi>
Signed-off-by: James Bottomley <James.Bottomley@SteelEye.com>