Re: [PATCH v6 10/16] mm: replace vm_lock and detached flag with a reference count

Peter Zijlstra
2024-12-18T09:41:25Z

On Tue, Dec 17, 2024 at 08:27:46AM -0800, Suren Baghdasaryan wrote:

> > So I just replied there, and no, I don't think it makes sense. Just put
> > the kmem_cache_free() in vma_refcount_put(), to be done on 0.
>
> That's very appealing indeed and makes things much simpler. The
> problem I see with that is the case when we detach a vma from the tree
> to isolate it, then do some cleanup and only then free it. That's done
> in vms_gather_munmap_vmas() here:
> https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/v6.12.5/source/mm/vma.c#L1240 and we
> even might reattach detached vmas back:
> https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/v6.12.5/source/mm/vma.c#L1312. IOW,
> detached state is not final and we can't destroy the object that
> reached this state.

Urgh, so that's the munmap() path, but arguably when that fails, the
map stays in place.

I think this means you're marking detached too soon; you should only
mark detached once you reach the point of no return.

That said, once you've reached the point of no return; and are about to
go remove the page-tables, you very much want to ensure a lack of
concurrency.

So perhaps waiting for out-standing readers at this point isn't crazy.

Also, I'm having a very hard time reading this maple tree stuff :/
Afaict vms_gather_munmap_vmas() only adds the VMAs to be removed to a
second tree, it does not in fact unlink them from the mm yet.

AFAICT it's vma_iter_clear_gfp() that actually wipes the vmas from the
mm -- and that being able to fail is mind boggling and I suppose is what
gives rise to much of this insanity :/

Anyway, I would expect remove_vma() to be the one that marks it detached
(it's already unreachable through vma_lookup() at this point) and there
you should wait for concurrent readers to bugger off.

> We could change states to: 0=unused (we can free
> the object), 1=detached, 2=attached, etc. but then vma_start_read()
> should do something like refcount_inc_more_than_one() instead of
> refcount_inc_not_zero(). Would you be ok with such an approach?

Urgh, I would strongly suggest ditching refcount_t if we go this route.
The thing is; refcount_t should remain a 'simple' straight forward
interface and not allow people to do the wrong thing. Its not meant to
be the kitchen sink -- we have atomic_t for that.

Anyway, the more common scheme at that point is using -1 for 'free', I
think folio->_mapcount uses that even. For that see:
atomic_add_negative*().

> > Additionally, having vma_end_write() would allow you to put a lockdep
> > annotation in vma_{start,end}_write() -- which was I think the original
> > reason I proposed it a while back, that and having improved clarity when
> > reading the code, since explicitly marking the end of a section is
> > helpful.
>
> The vma->vmlock_dep_map is tracking vma->vm_refcnt, not the
> vma->vm_lock_seq (similar to how today vma->vm_lock has its lockdep
> tracking that rw_semaphore). If I implement vma_end_write() then it
> will simply be something like:
>
> void vma_end_write(vma)
> {
> vma_assert_write_locked(vma);
> vma->vm_lock_seq = UINT_MAX;
> }
>
> so, vmlock_dep_map would not be involved.

That's just weird; why would you not track vma_{start,end}_write() with
the exclusive side of the 'rwsem' dep_map ?

> If you want to track vma->vm_lock_seq with a separate lockdep, that
> would be more complicated. Specifically for vma_end_write_all() that
> would require us to call rwsem_release() on all locked vmas, however
> we currently do not track individual locked vmas. vma_end_write_all()
> allows us not to worry about tracking them, knowing that once we do
> mmap_write_unlock() they all will get unlocked with one increment of
> mm->mm_lock_seq. If your suggestion is to replace vma_end_write_all()
> with vma_end_write() and unlock vmas individually across the mm code,
> that would be a sizable effort. If that is indeed your ultimate goal,
> I can do that as a separate project: introduce vma_end_write(),
> gradually add them in required places (not yet sure how complex that
> would be), then retire vma_end_write_all() and add a lockdep for
> vma->vm_lock_seq.

Yeah, so ultimately I think it would be clearer if you explicitly mark
the point where the vma modification is 'done'. But I don't suppose we
have to do that here.