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From: Rik van Riel <riel@redhat.com>
To: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
	Mel Gorman <mel@csn.ul.ie>,
	Andrea Arcangeli <aarcange@redhat.com>,
	Minchan Kim <minchan.kim@gmail.com>,
	Linux-MM <linux-mm@kvack.org>,
	KAMEZAWA Hiroyuki <kamezawa.hiroyu@jp.fujitsu.com>,
	LKML <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 4/5] always lock the root (oldest) anon_vma
Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 18:18:11 -0400	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <4BEB2923.8030200@redhat.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <alpine.LFD.2.00.1005121441350.3711@i5.linux-foundation.org>

On 05/12/2010 05:55 PM, Linus Torvalds wrote:

> Wouldn't it be sufficient to do
>
> 	if (atomic_dec_and_test(&anon_vma->ksm_refcount)) {
> 		anon_vma_lock(anon_vma);
>
> instead? The "atomic_dec_and_lock()" semantics are _much_ stricter than a
> regular "decrement and test and then lock", and that strictness means that
> it's way more complicated and expensive. So if you don't need the
> semantics, you shouldn't use them.

I suspect the atomic_dec_and_lock in the KVM code is being used
to prevent the following race:

1) KSM code reduces the refcount to 0

2)                               munmap on other CPU frees the anon_vma

3) KSM code takes the anon_vma lock,
    which now lives in freed memory

Am I totally confused by this and can we use a nicer approach?

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  reply	other threads:[~2010-05-12 22:18 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 53+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2010-05-12 17:38 [PATCH 0/5] always lock the root anon_vma Rik van Riel
2010-05-12 17:39 ` [PATCH 1/5] rename anon_vma_lock to vma_lock_anon_vma Rik van Riel
2010-05-12 20:57   ` Mel Gorman
2010-05-13  0:30   ` KAMEZAWA Hiroyuki
2010-05-12 17:39 ` [PATCH 3/5] track the root (oldest) anon_vma Rik van Riel
2010-05-12 20:59   ` Mel Gorman
2010-05-12 21:01     ` Rik van Riel
2010-05-13  0:38   ` KAMEZAWA Hiroyuki
2010-05-13  2:25     ` Rik van Riel
2010-05-14  0:04       ` KAMEZAWA Hiroyuki
2010-05-12 17:40 ` [PATCH 4/5] always lock " Rik van Riel
2010-05-12 21:02   ` Mel Gorman
2010-05-12 21:08     ` Rik van Riel
2010-05-13  9:54       ` Mel Gorman
2010-05-13 14:33         ` [PATCH -v2 " Rik van Riel
2010-05-13 21:09           ` Andrew Morton
2010-05-13 22:50             ` Rik van Riel
2010-05-14  9:33               ` Mel Gorman
2010-05-26  4:00             ` Rik van Riel
2010-05-26  4:15               ` Andrew Morton
2010-05-26  5:46                 ` james toy
2010-06-01  0:57                   ` james toy
2010-05-26 15:24               ` [PATCH -v2 0/5] always lock the root anon_vma Rik van Riel
2010-05-26 15:25                 ` [PATCH 1/5] rename anon_vma_lock to vma_lock_anon_vma Rik van Riel
2010-05-26 17:25                   ` Linus Torvalds
2010-05-26 19:01                     ` Rik van Riel
2010-05-26 19:25                       ` Linus Torvalds
2010-05-26 19:35                         ` Rik van Riel
2010-05-26 15:25                 ` [PATCH 2/5] change direct call of spin_lock(anon_vma->lock) to inline function Rik van Riel
2010-05-26 15:26                 ` [PATCH 3/5] track the root (oldest) anon_vma Rik van Riel
2010-05-26 15:27                 ` [PATCH 4/5] always lock " Rik van Riel
2010-05-26 15:27                 ` [PATCH 5/5] extend KSM refcounts to the anon_vma root Rik van Riel
2010-05-12 21:55   ` [PATCH 4/5] always lock the root (oldest) anon_vma Linus Torvalds
2010-05-12 22:18     ` Rik van Riel [this message]
2010-05-12 22:26       ` Linus Torvalds
2010-05-12 17:41 ` [PATCH 5/5] extend KSM refcounts to the anon_vma root Rik van Riel
2010-05-12 21:07   ` Mel Gorman
2010-05-12 21:09     ` Rik van Riel
2010-05-13 11:26       ` Mel Gorman
2010-05-13 13:11         ` Rik van Riel
2010-05-13 13:24           ` Mel Gorman
2010-05-13 14:34             ` [PATCH -v2 " Rik van Riel
2010-05-19  1:05               ` Andrea Arcangeli
2010-05-12 17:41 ` [PATCH 2/5] change direct call of spin_lock(anon_vma->lock) to inline function Rik van Riel
2010-05-12 20:58   ` Mel Gorman
2010-05-13  0:32   ` KAMEZAWA Hiroyuki
2010-05-20 22:42 ` [PATCH 6/5] adjust mm_take_all_locks to anon-vma-root locking Andrea Arcangeli
2010-05-20 23:07   ` Rik van Riel
  -- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2010-05-26 19:38 [PATCH -v3 0/5] always lock the root anon_vma Rik van Riel
2010-05-26 19:40 ` [PATCH 4/5] always lock the root (oldest) anon_vma Rik van Riel
2010-05-26 20:36   ` Larry Woodman
2010-05-27  0:57   ` KAMEZAWA Hiroyuki
2010-05-27 13:55   ` Minchan Kim
2010-05-27 17:48   ` Mel Gorman

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