How to fix btrfs root inode errors

Question

Running btrfsck, or more officially, btrfs check --repair gives this output stating that there are root inode errors. The repair command does not fix the issue and reruns will display the same output. The system is fully mountable and operational, but I cannot perform advanced operations on the partition (resizing).

sudo btrfs check --repair /dev/sda9
enabling repair mode
Checking filesystem on /dev/sda9
UUID: 82fca3c2-703b-4fae-aec2-6b7df1be71c1
checking extents
Fixed 0 roots.
checking free space cache
cache and super generation don't match, space cache will be invalidated
checking fs roots
root 257 inode 452001 errors 400, nbytes wrong
root 257 inode 452004 errors 400, nbytes wrong
root 257 inode 452005 errors 400, nbytes wrong
root 257 inode 452006 errors 400, nbytes wrong
root 257 inode 452010 errors 400, nbytes wrong
root 257 inode 452011 errors 400, nbytes wrong
root 257 inode 452012 errors 400, nbytes wrong
root 257 inode 1666032 errors 400, nbytes wrong
checking csums
checking root refs
found 33957216263 bytes used err is 0
total csum bytes: 32206988
total tree bytes: 968933376
total fs tree bytes: 886636544
total extent tree bytes: 35323904
btree space waste bytes: 199109273
file data blocks allocated: 41090113536
 referenced 32584159232
btrfs-progs v4.0.1

Answer 1

Provided that the broken inodes are the only problem present, the solution is to simply remove them. There may be a quicker way to do this, but here is what worked for me. From here I gleaned that you can use the find command to search for an inode like so:

find / -inum XXXXXX -print

of course giving it the inode in question from the btrfsck command. It will show you the offending file and you can delete it. When all have been removed, btrfsck will be clear and the system will function normally.