Re: [PATCH v2] ptp: remove ptp->n_vclocks check logic in ptp_vclock_in_use()

[Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>]

On Wed, 21 May 2025 01:07:17 +0900 Jeongjun Park wrote:
> The reason why this is appropriate is that any path that uses
> ptp->n_vclocks must unconditionally check if ptp->n_vclocks is greater
> than 0 before unregistering vclocks, and all functions are already
> written this way. And in the function that uses ptp->n_vclocks, we
> already get ptp->n_vclocks_mux before unregistering vclocks.

What about ptp_clock_freerun()? We seem to call it for clock ops
like settime and it does not check n_vclocks.

> Therefore, we need to remove the redundant check for ptp->n_vclocks in
> ptp_vclock_in_use() to prevent recursive locking.

IIUC lockdep is complaining that we are trying to lock the vclock's
n_vclocks_mux, while we already hold that lock for the real clock's
instance. It doesn't understand that the two are in a fixed hierarchy
so the deadlock is not possible.

If my understanding is correct could you please clearly state in the
commit message that this is a false positive? And if so isn't a better
fix to _move_ the !ptp->is_virtual_clock check before the lock in
ptp_vclock_in_use()? that way we preserve current behavior for real
clocks, but vclocks can return early and avoid confusing lockdep?
-- 
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