Re: [PATCH] sys_getppid oopses on debug kernel (v2)

[Oleg Nesterov <oleg@tv-sign.ru>]

Andrew Morton wrote:
>
> Although I'm not sure it's needed for this problem. A getppid() which does
>
> asmlinkage long sys_getppid(void)
> {
> 	int pid;
>
> 	read_lock(&tasklist_lock);
> 	pid = current->group_leader->real_parent->tgid;
> 	read_unlock(&tasklist_lock);
>
> 	return pid;
> }
>
> seems like a fine implementation to me ;)

Why do we need to use ->group_leader? All threads should have the same
->real_parent.

Why do we need tasklist_lock? I think rcu_read_lock() is enough.

In other words, do you see any problems with this code

	smlinkage long sys_getppid(void)
	{
		int pid;

		rcu_read_lock();
		pid = rcu_dereference(current->real_parent)->tgid;
		rcu_read_unlock();

		return pid;
	}

? Yes, we may read a stale value for ->real_parent, but the memory
can't be freed while we are under rcu_read_lock(). And in this case
the returned value is ok because the task could be reparented just
after return anyway.

Oleg.