Changes since v1:
- Provide info about trusted.overlay.metacopy extended attribute.
- Minor rephrasing regarding copy-up operation with
  metacopy=on
Signed-off-by: Yuriy Belikov <yuriybelikov1@gmail.com>
---
 Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst | 7 +++++--
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst
index 165514401441..e5ad43f4f4d7 100644
--- a/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst
@@ -367,8 +367,11 @@ Metadata only copy up
 
 When the "metacopy" feature is enabled, overlayfs will only copy
 up metadata (as opposed to whole file), when a metadata specific operation
-like chown/chmod is performed. Full file will be copied up later when
-file is opened for WRITE operation.
+like chown/chmod is performed. An upper file in this state is marked with
+"trusted.overlayfs.metacopy" xattr which indicates that the upper file
+contains no data. Full data will be copied up later when file is opened for
+WRITE operation. After the lower file's data is copied up,
+the "trusted.overlayfs.metacopy" xattr is removed from the upper file.
 
 In other words, this is delayed data copy up operation and data is copied
 up when there is a need to actually modify data.
-- 
2.43.5

On Wed, Sep 4, 2024 at 6:54 PM Yuriy Belikov <yuriybelikov1@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Changes since v1:
> - Provide info about trusted.overlay.metacopy extended attribute.
> - Minor rephrasing regarding copy-up operation with
>   metacopy=on
> Signed-off-by: Yuriy Belikov <yuriybelikov1@gmail.com>
> ---
>  Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst | 7 +++++--
>  1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst
> index 165514401441..e5ad43f4f4d7 100644
> --- a/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst
> @@ -367,8 +367,11 @@ Metadata only copy up
>
>  When the "metacopy" feature is enabled, overlayfs will only copy
>  up metadata (as opposed to whole file), when a metadata specific operation
> -like chown/chmod is performed. Full file will be copied up later when
> -file is opened for WRITE operation.
> +like chown/chmod is performed. An upper file in this state is marked with
> +"trusted.overlayfs.metacopy" xattr which indicates that the upper file
> +contains no data. Full data will be copied up later when file is opened for
> +WRITE operation. After the lower file's data is copied up,
> +the "trusted.overlayfs.metacopy" xattr is removed from the upper file.
>
>  In other words, this is delayed data copy up operation and data is copied
>  up when there is a need to actually modify data.
> --
> 2.43.5
>

Pushed to overlayfs-next with minor rephrasing of commit message.
(v1 is irrelevant in the context of git history)

Thanks,
Amir.