Little File System write access order

Mbed OS
1

Hey community,

I’m writing firmware updates for our mbed os- based embedded application. To store the downloaded file, I’m using the LittleFileSystem mounted on a FlashIAPBlockDevice. The problem comes with order of access to the file. If I write into the file chunks of 1024 Bytes in-order it uses up 80KB with a 100KB BlockDevice. If the order of access is randomized, a write access returns no more space at almost 60% space utilization. Sample application code demonstrating this is given below:

int main ()
{
    FlashIAPBlockDevice internalBD ((uint32_t)0x85000, 100 * 1024);
    LittleFileSystem fileSystem ("fs", &internalBD, 1024, 1024, 1024, 512);

    int q = 0;
    q = fileSystem.mount (&internalBD);
    if (q != 0) {
        Log::d (LOG_TAG, "Mount failed, reformatting");
        q = fileSystem.reformat (&internalBD);
    }

    File file;
    int res = file.open (&fileSystem, "update.img", O_BINARY | O_CREAT | O_RDWR);
	
    uint32_t ulOffset = 0;
    uint32_t ulOffsetActual = 0;

    char pacData[1024];

    for (int i = 0; i < 1024; i++) {
        pacData[i] = i;
    }

    int lResult;
    uint32_t ulBlockSize = 1024;
    uint32_t lowOffset = 0;

    while (true) {
        ulOffsetActual = ulOffset;

        if ((ulOffset / 1024 > 20) && (0 == (ulOffset / 1024) % 10)) {	// Change offset to 0 for every 10th chunk
            ulOffsetActual = 0;
        }
        printf ("Block = %d\r\n", ulOffsetActual / 1024);
        lResult = file.seek (ulOffsetActual, SEEK_SET);

        if (0 <= lResult) {
            lResult = file.write (pacData, ulBlockSize);

            if (lResult < 0) {
                printf ("ERROR - fwrite failed\r\n");
            }
        }
        else {
            Log::d ("ERROR - fseek failed\r\n");
        }
        ulOffset += 1024;
    }

    return 0;
}

It seems like a very curious problem and so far I couldn’t find an explanation in the doc or otherwise online. Would be nice to have some input/ discussion on this!

Best regards,
Saad

2

Pinged Chris (the author of LittleFS).

1 Like
3

Thanks Jan! Any word from Chris yet?

Best,
Saad