The cause of the bug that was found in Linux's Ext4 filesystem last week has been identified. The main Ext4 developer, Ted Ts'o, has written a few lines of patch code and submitted it for inclusion in kernel version 3.7, which recently saw the release of its third release candidate.

The developer says that the patch fixes the problem that can trigger filesystem errors when unusual mount options are used. Ts'o has also announced that various mount options that have not undergone much testing, and may therefore be potentially harmful, will be disabled or at least trigger a warning.

See also:

Comment: Ext4 bug - No need to panic!, a commentary from The H.

(djwm)