What is the issue with directory corruption in Linux 2.6.17?
In the Linux kernel 2.6.17 release a subtle bug was accidentally introduced into the XFS directory code by some “sparse” endian annotations. This bug was sufficiently uncommon (it only affects a certain type of format change, in Node or B-Tree format directories, and only in certain situations) that it was not detected during our regular regression testing, but it has been observed in the wild by a number of people now. Update: the fix is included in 2.6.17.7 and later kernels. To add insult to injury, xfs_repair(8) is currently not correcting these directories on detection of this corrupt state either. This xfs_repair issue is actively being worked on, and a fixed version will be available shortly. Update: a fixed xfs_repair is now available; version 2.8.10 or later of the xfsprogs package contains the fixed version. No other kernel versions are affected. However, using a corrupt filesystem on other kernels can still result in the filesystem being shutdown if the problem has not been
