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From: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
To: Michel Lespinasse <walken@google.com>
Cc: linux-mm@kvack.org, Rik van Riel <riel@redhat.com>,
	Hugh Dickins <hughd@google.com>,
	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] mm: protect against concurrent vma expansion
Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2012 15:01:10 -0800	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20121203150110.39c204ff.akpm@linux-foundation.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <1354344987-28203-1-git-send-email-walken@google.com>

On Fri, 30 Nov 2012 22:56:27 -0800
Michel Lespinasse <walken@google.com> wrote:

> expand_stack() runs with a shared mmap_sem lock. Because of this, there
> could be multiple concurrent stack expansions in the same mm, which may
> cause problems in the vma gap update code.
> 
> I propose to solve this by taking the mm->page_table_lock around such vma
> expansions, in order to avoid the concurrency issue. We only have to worry
> about concurrent expand_stack() calls here, since we hold a shared mmap_sem
> lock and all vma modificaitons other than expand_stack() are done under
> an exclusive mmap_sem lock.
> 
> I previously tried to achieve the same effect by making sure all
> growable vmas in a given mm would share the same anon_vma, which we
> already lock here. However this turned out to be difficult - all of the
> schemes I tried for refcounting the growable anon_vma and clearing
> turned out ugly. So, I'm now proposing only the minimal fix.
> 

I think I don't understand the problem fully.  Let me demonstrate:

a) vma_lock_anon_vma() doesn't take a lock which is specific to
   "this" anon_vma.  It takes anon_vma->root->mutex.  That mutex is
   shared with vma->vm_next, yes?  If so, we have no problem here? 
   (which makes me suspect that the races lies other than where I think
   it lies).

b) I can see why a broader lock is needed in expand_upwards(): it
   plays with a different vma: vma->vm_next.  But expand_downwards()
   doesn't do that - it only alters "this" vma.  So I'd have thought
   that vma_lock_anon_vma("this" vma) would be sufficient.


What are the performance costs of this change?

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WARNING: multiple messages have this Message-ID (diff)
From: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
To: Michel Lespinasse <walken@google.com>
Cc: linux-mm@kvack.org, Rik van Riel <riel@redhat.com>,
	Hugh Dickins <hughd@google.com>,
	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] mm: protect against concurrent vma expansion
Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2012 15:01:10 -0800	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20121203150110.39c204ff.akpm@linux-foundation.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <1354344987-28203-1-git-send-email-walken@google.com>

On Fri, 30 Nov 2012 22:56:27 -0800
Michel Lespinasse <walken@google.com> wrote:

> expand_stack() runs with a shared mmap_sem lock. Because of this, there
> could be multiple concurrent stack expansions in the same mm, which may
> cause problems in the vma gap update code.
> 
> I propose to solve this by taking the mm->page_table_lock around such vma
> expansions, in order to avoid the concurrency issue. We only have to worry
> about concurrent expand_stack() calls here, since we hold a shared mmap_sem
> lock and all vma modificaitons other than expand_stack() are done under
> an exclusive mmap_sem lock.
> 
> I previously tried to achieve the same effect by making sure all
> growable vmas in a given mm would share the same anon_vma, which we
> already lock here. However this turned out to be difficult - all of the
> schemes I tried for refcounting the growable anon_vma and clearing
> turned out ugly. So, I'm now proposing only the minimal fix.
> 

I think I don't understand the problem fully.  Let me demonstrate:

a) vma_lock_anon_vma() doesn't take a lock which is specific to
   "this" anon_vma.  It takes anon_vma->root->mutex.  That mutex is
   shared with vma->vm_next, yes?  If so, we have no problem here? 
   (which makes me suspect that the races lies other than where I think
   it lies).

b) I can see why a broader lock is needed in expand_upwards(): it
   plays with a different vma: vma->vm_next.  But expand_downwards()
   doesn't do that - it only alters "this" vma.  So I'd have thought
   that vma_lock_anon_vma("this" vma) would be sufficient.


What are the performance costs of this change?

  reply	other threads:[~2012-12-03 23:01 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 22+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2012-12-01  6:56 [PATCH] mm: protect against concurrent vma expansion Michel Lespinasse
2012-12-01  6:56 ` Michel Lespinasse
2012-12-03 23:01 ` Andrew Morton [this message]
2012-12-03 23:01   ` Andrew Morton
2012-12-04  0:35   ` Michel Lespinasse
2012-12-04  0:35     ` Michel Lespinasse
2012-12-04  0:43     ` Andrew Morton
2012-12-04  0:43       ` Andrew Morton
2012-12-04 14:48       ` Michel Lespinasse
2012-12-04 14:48         ` Michel Lespinasse
2012-12-20  1:56         ` Simon Jeons
2012-12-20  1:56           ` Simon Jeons
2012-12-20  3:01           ` Michel Lespinasse
2012-12-20  3:01             ` Michel Lespinasse
2013-01-04  0:40             ` Simon Jeons
2013-01-04  0:40               ` Simon Jeons
2013-01-04  0:50               ` Michel Lespinasse
2013-01-04  0:50                 ` Michel Lespinasse
2013-01-04  1:18                 ` Simon Jeons
2013-01-04  1:18                   ` Simon Jeons
2013-01-04  2:49               ` Al Viro
2013-01-04  2:49                 ` Al Viro

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