Re: [PATCH] mm: offlining memory may block forever

[Greg KH <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>]

On Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 09:53:31PM +0530, Aaditya Kumar wrote:
> Offlining memory may block forever, waiting for kswapd() to wake up because
> kswapd() does not check the event kthread->should_stop before sleeping.
> 
> The proper pattern, from Documentation/memory-barriers.txt, is:
>    ---  waker  ---
>    event_indicated = 1;
>    wake_up_process(event_daemon);
> 
>    ---  sleeper  ---
>    for (;;) {
>       set_current_state(TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE);
>       if (event_indicated)
>          break;
>       schedule();
>    }
> 
>    set_current_state() may be wrapped by:
>       prepare_to_wait();
> 
> In the kswapd() case, event_indicated is kthread->should_stop.
> ---  offlining memory (waker)  ---
>    kswapd_stop()
>       kthread_stop()
>          kthread->should_stop = 1
>          wake_up_process()
>          wait_for_completion()
> 
> 
> ---  kswapd_try_to_sleep (sleeper)  ---
>    kswapd_try_to_sleep()
>       prepare_to_wait()
>            .
>            .
>       schedule()
>            .
>            .
>       finish_wait()
> 
>    The schedule() needs to be protected by a test of kthread->should_stop,
>    which is wrapped by kthread_should_stop().
> 
> Reproducer:
>    Do heavy file I/O in background.
>    Do a memory offline/online in a tight loop
> 
> 
> Signed-off-by: Aaditya Kumar <aaditya.kumar@ap.sony.com>

<formletter>

This is not the correct way to submit patches for inclusion in the
stable kernel tree.  Please read Documentation/stable_kernel_rules.txt
for how to do this properly.

</formletter>

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