docs: add dirty bit to qcow2 specification

The dirty bit will make it possible to perform lazy refcount updates,
where the image file is not kept consistent all the time.  Upon opening
a dirty image file, it is necessary to perform a consistency check and
repair any incorrect refcounts.

Therefore the dirty bit must be an incompatible feature bit.  We don't
want old programs accessing a file with stale refcounts.

Signed-off-by: Stefan Hajnoczi <stefanha@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Signed-off-by: Kevin Wolf <kwolf@redhat.com>

diff --git a/docs/specs/qcow2.txt b/docs/specs/qcow2.txt
index 87bf785fe080f9b5f524e79bbe2b624308b0605d..339cdc1b58e95ec191f24a7f80a3a297350cc6b2 100644 (file)
--- a/docs/specs/qcow2.txt
+++ b/docs/specs/qcow2.txt
@@ -75,7 +75,12 @@ in the description of a field.
                     Bitmask of incompatible features. An implementation must
                     fail to open an image if an unknown bit is set.
 
-                    Bits 0-63:  Reserved (set to 0)
+                    Bit 0:      Dirty bit.  If this bit is set then refcounts
+                                may be inconsistent, make sure to scan L1/L2
+                                tables to repair refcounts before accessing the
+                                image.
+
+                    Bits 1-63:  Reserved (set to 0)
 
          80 -  87:  compatible_features
                     Bitmask of compatible features. An implementation can