metadata-update-dependency · shipping

Metadata update dependency

A metadata update dependency is an ordering requirement between persistent changes needed to preserve a filesystem invariant.

Related Observatory article: Metadata update dependency on hesela.com

Ordering changes and recording recovery information are different consistency strategies. [1]

Relations

related

soft-updates, persistence-ordering, filesystem-consistency-invariant

Limitations

• An ordering constraint does not itself provide atomicity for an entire application transaction. [1]

Citations

1. Seltzer, Ganger, McKusick, Smith, Soules and Stein. Journaling Versus Soft Updates: Asynchronous Meta-data Protection in File Systems. USENIX ATC 2000, pp. 71-84. (accessed 2026-10-15)
2. Hesela: Soft updates and metadata ordering (accessed 2026-10-15)

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