Merge tag 'docs-5.3' of git://git.lwn.net/linux

Pull Documentation updates from Jonathan Corbet:
 "It's been a relatively busy cycle for docs:

   - A fair pile of RST conversions, many from Mauro. These create more
     than the usual number of simple but annoying merge conflicts with
     other trees, unfortunately. He has a lot more of these waiting on
     the wings that, I think, will go to you directly later on.

   - A new document on how to use merges and rebases in kernel repos,
     and one on Spectre vulnerabilities.

   - Various improvements to the build system, including automatic
     markup of function() references because some people, for reasons I
     will never understand, were of the opinion that
     :c:func:``function()`` is unattractive and not fun to type.

   - We now recommend using sphinx 1.7, but still support back to 1.4.

   - Lots of smaller improvements, warning fixes, typo fixes, etc"

* tag 'docs-5.3' of git://git.lwn.net/linux: (129 commits)
  docs: automarkup.py: ignore exceptions when seeking for xrefs
  docs: Move binderfs to admin-guide
  Disable Sphinx SmartyPants in HTML output
  doc: RCU callback locks need only _bh, not necessarily _irq
  docs: format kernel-parameters -- as code
  Doc : doc-guide : Fix a typo
  platform: x86: get rid of a non-existent document
  Add the RCU docs to the core-api manual
  Documentation: RCU: Add TOC tree hooks
  Documentation: RCU: Rename txt files to rst
  Documentation: RCU: Convert RCU UP systems to reST
  Documentation: RCU: Convert RCU linked list to reST
  Documentation: RCU: Convert RCU basic concepts to reST
  docs: filesystems: Remove uneeded .rst extension on toctables
  scripts/sphinx-pre-install: fix out-of-tree build
  docs: zh_CN: submitting-drivers.rst: Remove a duplicated Documentation/
  Documentation: PGP: update for newer HW devices
  Documentation: Add section about CPU vulnerabilities for Spectre
  Documentation: platform: Delete x86-laptop-drivers.txt
  docs: Note that :c:func: should no longer be used
  ...

1 files changed, 79 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/device-mapper/writecache.rst b/Documentation/device-mapper/writecache.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d3d7690f5e8d
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+++ b/Documentation/device-mapper/writecache.rst
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+=================
+Writecache target
+=================
+
+The writecache target caches writes on persistent memory or on SSD. It
+doesn't cache reads because reads are supposed to be cached in page cache
+in normal RAM.
+
+When the device is constructed, the first sector should be zeroed or the
+first sector should contain valid superblock from previous invocation.
+
+Constructor parameters:
+
+1. type of the cache device - "p" or "s"
+
+	- p - persistent memory
+	- s - SSD
+2. the underlying device that will be cached
+3. the cache device
+4. block size (4096 is recommended; the maximum block size is the page
+   size)
+5. the number of optional parameters (the parameters with an argument
+   count as two)
+
+	start_sector n		(default: 0)
+		offset from the start of cache device in 512-byte sectors
+	high_watermark n	(default: 50)
+		start writeback when the number of used blocks reach this
+		watermark
+	low_watermark x		(default: 45)
+		stop writeback when the number of used blocks drops below
+		this watermark
+	writeback_jobs n	(default: unlimited)
+		limit the number of blocks that are in flight during
+		writeback. Setting this value reduces writeback
+		throughput, but it may improve latency of read requests
+	autocommit_blocks n	(default: 64 for pmem, 65536 for ssd)
+		when the application writes this amount of blocks without
+		issuing the FLUSH request, the blocks are automatically
+		commited
+	autocommit_time ms	(default: 1000)
+		autocommit time in milliseconds. The data is automatically
+		commited if this time passes and no FLUSH request is
+		received
+	fua			(by default on)
+		applicable only to persistent memory - use the FUA flag
+		when writing data from persistent memory back to the
+		underlying device
+	nofua
+		applicable only to persistent memory - don't use the FUA
+		flag when writing back data and send the FLUSH request
+		afterwards
+
+		- some underlying devices perform better with fua, some
+		  with nofua. The user should test it
+
+Status:
+1. error indicator - 0 if there was no error, otherwise error number
+2. the number of blocks
+3. the number of free blocks
+4. the number of blocks under writeback
+
+Messages:
+	flush
+		flush the cache device. The message returns successfully
+		if the cache device was flushed without an error
+	flush_on_suspend
+		flush the cache device on next suspend. Use this message
+		when you are going to remove the cache device. The proper
+		sequence for removing the cache device is:
+
+		1. send the "flush_on_suspend" message
+		2. load an inactive table with a linear target that maps
+		   to the underlying device
+		3. suspend the device
+		4. ask for status and verify that there are no errors
+		5. resume the device, so that it will use the linear
+		   target
+		6. the cache device is now inactive and it can be deleted