Solved. I had to go through the source code of mkfs.xfs. First of all I installed:
xfsprogs-3.1.1-0.1.36.src.rpm
Let's go through /usr/src/packages:
# ls -ltr | grep xfsprogs-3.1.1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1072077 2010-02-03 10:33 xfsprogs-3.1.1.tar.bz2
Decompressing and listing:
# cd xfsprogs-3.1.1
# ls
aclocal.m4 configure db estimate growfs io libxcmd logprint Makefile mkfs README rtcp
config.guess configure.in debian fsck include libdisk libxfs ltmain.sh man po release.sh VERSION
config.sub copy doc fsr install-sh libhandle libxlog m4 mdrestore quota repair
We are interested in the mkfs.xfs therefore:
# vi mkfs/xfs_mkfs.c
void validate_log_size(__uint64_t logblocks, int blocklog, int min_logblocks)
{
if (logblocks < min_logblocks) {
fprintf(stderr,
_("log size %lld blocks too small, minimum size is %d blocks\n"),
(long long)logblocks, min_logblocks);
usage();
}
if (logblocks > XFS_MAX_LOG_BLOCKS) {
fprintf(stderr,
_("log size %lld blocks too large, maximum size is %lld blocks\n"),
(long long)logblocks, XFS_MAX_LOG_BLOCKS);
usage();
}
if ((logblocks << blocklog) > XFS_MAX_LOG_BYTES) {
fprintf(stderr,
_("log size %lld bytes too large, maximum size is %lld bytes\n"),
(long long)(logblocks << blocklog), XFS_MAX_LOG_BYTES);
usage();
}
}
The limits for the metadata log are set by the variables XFS_MAX_LOG_BLOCKS and XFS_MAX_LOG_BYTES. These variables are defined in the include/xfs_fs.h:
#define XFS_MIN_AG_BLOCKS 64
#define XFS_MIN_LOG_BLOCKS 512ULL
#define XFS_MAX_LOG_BLOCKS (1024 * 1024ULL)
#define XFS_MIN_LOG_BYTES (10 * 1024 * 1024ULL)
/* keep the maximum size under 2^31 by a small amount */
#define XFS_MAX_LOG_BYTES \
((2 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024ULL) - XFS_MIN_LOG_BYTES)
So, for this version of XFS we have:
XFS_MAX_LOG_BLOCKS = 1048576 <<<
XFS_MIN_LOG_BYTES = 10485760
XFS_MAX_LOG_BYTES = (2*1024*1024*1024)-(10485760) = 2136997888 = 2038M <<<<
Using a block size of 4 KB (standard):
1048576 * 4096 = 4294967296 = 4096M
I think that the maximum size of the log is the minimum between XFS_MAX_LOG_BYTES and XFS_MAX_LOG_BLOCKS * block_size. Infact:
# mkfs.xfs -f -l size=2039m /dev/md0
log size 2138046464 bytes too large, maximum size is 2136997888 bytes
Usage: mkfs.xfs
/* blocksize */ [-b log=n|size=num]
/* data subvol */ [-d agcount=n,agsize=n,file,name=xxx,size=num,
(sunit=value,swidth=value|su=num,sw=num),
sectlog=n|sectsize=num
/* inode size */ [-i log=n|perblock=n|size=num,maxpct=n,attr=0|1|2]
/* log subvol */ [-l agnum=n,internal,size=num,logdev=xxx,version=n
sunit=value|su=num,sectlog=n|sectsize=num,
lazy-count=0|1]
/* label */ [-L label (maximum 12 characters)]
/* naming */ [-n log=n|size=num,version=2|ci]
/* prototype file */ [-p fname]
/* quiet */ [-q]
/* realtime subvol */ [-r extsize=num,size=num,rtdev=xxx]
/* sectorsize */ [-s log=n|size=num]
/* version */ [-V]
devicename
<devicename> is required unless -d name=xxx is given.
<num> is xxx (bytes), xxxs (sectors), xxxb (fs blocks), xxxk (xxx KiB),
xxxm (xxx MiB), xxxg (xxx GiB), xxxt (xxx TiB) or xxxp (xxx PiB).
<value> is xxx (512 byte blocks).
Hope this helps!