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+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+Layout
+------
+
+The layout of a standard block group is approximately as follows (each
+of these fields is discussed in a separate section below):
+
+.. list-table::
+ :widths: 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
+ :header-rows: 1
+
+ * - Group 0 Padding
+ - ext4 Super Block
+ - Group Descriptors
+ - Reserved GDT Blocks
+ - Data Block Bitmap
+ - inode Bitmap
+ - inode Table
+ - Data Blocks
+ * - 1024 bytes
+ - 1 block
+ - many blocks
+ - many blocks
+ - 1 block
+ - 1 block
+ - many blocks
+ - many more blocks
+
+For the special case of block group 0, the first 1024 bytes are unused,
+to allow for the installation of x86 boot sectors and other oddities.
+The superblock will start at offset 1024 bytes, whichever block that
+happens to be (usually 0). However, if for some reason the block size =
+1024, then block 0 is marked in use and the superblock goes in block 1.
+For all other block groups, there is no padding.
+
+The ext4 driver primarily works with the superblock and the group
+descriptors that are found in block group 0. Redundant copies of the
+superblock and group descriptors are written to some of the block groups
+across the disk in case the beginning of the disk gets trashed, though
+not all block groups necessarily host a redundant copy (see following
+paragraph for more details). If the group does not have a redundant
+copy, the block group begins with the data block bitmap. Note also that
+when the filesystem is freshly formatted, mkfs will allocate “reserve
+GDT block” space after the block group descriptors and before the start
+of the block bitmaps to allow for future expansion of the filesystem. By
+default, a filesystem is allowed to increase in size by a factor of
+1024x over the original filesystem size.
+
+The location of the inode table is given by ``grp.bg_inode_table_*``. It
+is continuous range of blocks large enough to contain
+``sb.s_inodes_per_group * sb.s_inode_size`` bytes.
+
+As for the ordering of items in a block group, it is generally
+established that the super block and the group descriptor table, if
+present, will be at the beginning of the block group. The bitmaps and
+the inode table can be anywhere, and it is quite possible for the
+bitmaps to come after the inode table, or for both to be in different
+groups (flex\_bg). Leftover space is used for file data blocks, indirect
+block maps, extent tree blocks, and extended attributes.
+
+Flexible Block Groups
+---------------------
+
+Starting in ext4, there is a new feature called flexible block groups
+(flex\_bg). In a flex\_bg, several block groups are tied together as one
+logical block group; the bitmap spaces and the inode table space in the
+first block group of the flex\_bg are expanded to include the bitmaps
+and inode tables of all other block groups in the flex\_bg. For example,
+if the flex\_bg size is 4, then group 0 will contain (in order) the
+superblock, group descriptors, data block bitmaps for groups 0-3, inode
+bitmaps for groups 0-3, inode tables for groups 0-3, and the remaining
+space in group 0 is for file data. The effect of this is to group the
+block metadata close together for faster loading, and to enable large
+files to be continuous on disk. Backup copies of the superblock and
+group descriptors are always at the beginning of block groups, even if
+flex\_bg is enabled. The number of block groups that make up a flex\_bg
+is given by 2 ^ ``sb.s_log_groups_per_flex``.
+
+Meta Block Groups
+-----------------
+
+Without the option META\_BG, for safety concerns, all block group
+descriptors copies are kept in the first block group. Given the default
+128MiB(2^27 bytes) block group size and 64-byte group descriptors, ext4
+can have at most 2^27/64 = 2^21 block groups. This limits the entire
+filesystem size to 2^21 ∗ 2^27 = 2^48bytes or 256TiB.
+
+The solution to this problem is to use the metablock group feature
+(META\_BG), which is already in ext3 for all 2.6 releases. With the
+META\_BG feature, ext4 filesystems are partitioned into many metablock
+groups. Each metablock group is a cluster of block groups whose group
+descriptor structures can be stored in a single disk block. For ext4
+filesystems with 4 KB block size, a single metablock group partition
+includes 64 block groups, or 8 GiB of disk space. The metablock group
+feature moves the location of the group descriptors from the congested
+first block group of the whole filesystem into the first group of each
+metablock group itself. The backups are in the second and last group of
+each metablock group. This increases the 2^21 maximum block groups limit
+to the hard limit 2^32, allowing support for a 512PiB filesystem.
+
+The change in the filesystem format replaces the current scheme where
+the superblock is followed by a variable-length set of block group
+descriptors. Instead, the superblock and a single block group descriptor
+block is placed at the beginning of the first, second, and last block
+groups in a meta-block group. A meta-block group is a collection of
+block groups which can be described by a single block group descriptor
+block. Since the size of the block group descriptor structure is 32
+bytes, a meta-block group contains 32 block groups for filesystems with
+a 1KB block size, and 128 block groups for filesystems with a 4KB
+blocksize. Filesystems can either be created using this new block group
+descriptor layout, or existing filesystems can be resized on-line, and
+the field s\_first\_meta\_bg in the superblock will indicate the first
+block group using this new layout.
+
+Please see an important note about ``BLOCK_UNINIT`` in the section about
+block and inode bitmaps.
+
+Lazy Block Group Initialization
+-------------------------------
+
+A new feature for ext4 are three block group descriptor flags that
+enable mkfs to skip initializing other parts of the block group
+metadata. Specifically, the INODE\_UNINIT and BLOCK\_UNINIT flags mean
+that the inode and block bitmaps for that group can be calculated and
+therefore the on-disk bitmap blocks are not initialized. This is
+generally the case for an empty block group or a block group containing
+only fixed-location block group metadata. The INODE\_ZEROED flag means
+that the inode table has been initialized; mkfs will unset this flag and
+rely on the kernel to initialize the inode tables in the background.
+
+By not writing zeroes to the bitmaps and inode table, mkfs time is
+reduced considerably. Note the feature flag is RO\_COMPAT\_GDT\_CSUM,
+but the dumpe2fs output prints this as “uninit\_bg”. They are the same
+thing.