Does remounting after changes to overlayfs underlying filesystem (UB) necessarily restore consistency?
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The [overlayfs documentation](https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/filesystems/overlayfs.html) states that "if the underlying filesystem is changed, the behavior of the overlay is undefined, though it will not result in a crash or deadlock."
And, indeed, I've observed that when I make changes to the lowerdir in an overlay mount, strange stuff happens. However, if I remount afterwards, the problems seem to be fixed.
If I ignore the documentation's advice and modify the underlying filesystem online, will
mount -oremount merged
*necessarily* fix any issues caused by doing so?
(Yes, yes, I know the documentation says "changes to the underlying filesystems while part of a mounted overlay filesystem are **not allowed**" (emphasis mine), but I've heard [otherwise](https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/386758/173715).)
Asked by RobertR
(127 rep)
Jul 27, 2020, 12:52 AM