Re: [PATCH v7 4/4] mm: vmalloc: convert vread() to vread_iter()

Baoquan He
2023-03-23T10:36:31Z

On 03/23/23 at 06:44am, Lorenzo Stoakes wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 23, 2023 at 10:52:09AM +0800, Baoquan He wrote:
> > On 03/22/23 at 06:57pm, Lorenzo Stoakes wrote:
> > > Having previously laid the foundation for converting vread() to an iterator
> > > function, pull the trigger and do so.
> > >
> > > This patch attempts to provide minimal refactoring and to reflect the
> > > existing logic as best we can, for example we continue to zero portions of
> > > memory not read, as before.
> > >
> > > Overall, there should be no functional difference other than a performance
> > > improvement in /proc/kcore access to vmalloc regions.
> > >
> > > Now we have eliminated the need for a bounce buffer in read_kcore_iter(),
> > > we dispense with it, and try to write to user memory optimistically but
> > > with faults disabled via copy_page_to_iter_nofault(). We already have
> > > preemption disabled by holding a spin lock. We continue faulting in until
> > > the operation is complete.
> >
> > I don't understand the sentences here. In vread_iter(), the actual
> > content reading is done in aligned_vread_iter(), otherwise we zero
> > filling the region. In aligned_vread_iter(), we will use
> > vmalloc_to_page() to get the mapped page and read out, otherwise zero
> > fill. While in this patch, fault_in_iov_iter_writeable() fault in memory
> > of iter one time and will bail out if failed. I am wondering why we
> > continue faulting in until the operation is complete, and how that is done.
>
> This is refererrring to what's happening in kcore.c, not vread_iter(),
> i.e. the looped read/faultin.
>
> The reason we bail out if failt_in_iov_iter_writeable() is that would
> indicate an error had occurred.
>
> The whole point is to _optimistically_ try to perform the operation
> assuming the pages are faulted in. Ultimately we fault in via
> copy_to_user_nofault() which will either copy data or fail if the pages are
> not faulted in (will discuss this below a bit more in response to your
> other point).
>
> If this fails, then we fault in, and try again. We loop because there could
> be some extremely unfortunate timing with a race on e.g. swapping out or
> migrating pages between faulting in and trying to write out again.
>
> This is extremely unlikely, but to avoid any chance of breaking userland we
> repeat the operation until it completes. In nearly all real-world
> situations it'll either work immediately or loop once.

Thanks a lot for these helpful details with patience. I got it now. I was
mainly confused by the while(true) loop in KCORE_VMALLOC case of read_kcore_iter.

Now is there any chance that the faulted in memory is swapped out or
migrated again before vread_iter()? fault_in_iov_iter_writeable() will
pin the memory? I didn't find it from code and document. Seems it only
falults in memory. If yes, there's window between faluting in and
copy_to_user_nofault().

>
> >
> > If we look into the failing point in vread_iter(), it's mainly coming
> > from copy_page_to_iter_nofault(), e.g page_copy_sane() checking failed,
> > i->data_source checking failed. If these conditional checking failed,
> > should we continue reading again and again? And this is not related to
> > memory faulting in. I saw your discussion with David, but I am still a
> > little lost. Hope I can learn it, thanks in advance.
> >
>
> Actually neither of these are going to happen. page_copy_sane() checks the
> sanity of the _source_ pages, and the 'sanity' is defined by whether your
> offset and length sit within the (possibly compound) folio. Since we
> control this, we can arrange for it never to happen.
>
> i->data_source is checking that it's an output iterator, however we would
> already have checked this when writing ELF headers at the bare minimum, so
> we cannot reach this point with an invalid iterator.
>
> Therefore it is not possible either cause a failure. What could cause a
> failure, and what we are checking for, is specified in copyout_nofault()
> (in iov_iter.c) which we pass to the iterate_and_advance() macro. Now we
> have a fault-injection should_fail_usercopy() which would just trigger a
> redo, or copy_to_user_nofault() returning < 0 (e.g. -EFAULT).
>
> This code is confusing as this function returns the number of bytes _not
> copied_ rather than copied. I have tested this to be sure by the way :)
>
> Therefore the only way for a failure to occur is for memory to not be
> faulted in and thus the loop only triggers in this situation. If we fail to
> fault in pages for any reason, the whole operation aborts so this should
> cover all angles.
>
> > ......
> > > diff --git a/fs/proc/kcore.c b/fs/proc/kcore.c
> > > index 08b795fd80b4..25b44b303b35 100644
> > > --- a/fs/proc/kcore.c
> > > +++ b/fs/proc/kcore.c
> > ......
> > > @@ -507,13 +503,30 @@ read_kcore_iter(struct kiocb *iocb, struct iov_iter *iter)
> > >
> > > switch (m->type) {
> > > case KCORE_VMALLOC:
> > > - vread(buf, (char *)start, tsz);
> > > - /* we have to zero-fill user buffer even if no read */
> > > - if (copy_to_iter(buf, tsz, iter) != tsz) {
> > > - ret = -EFAULT;
> > > - goto out;
> > > + {
> > > + const char *src = (char *)start;
> > > + size_t read = 0, left = tsz;
> > > +
> > > + /*
> > > + * vmalloc uses spinlocks, so we optimistically try to
> > > + * read memory. If this fails, fault pages in and try
> > > + * again until we are done.
> > > + */
> > > + while (true) {
> > > + read += vread_iter(iter, src, left);
> > > + if (read == tsz)
> > > + break;
> > > +
> > > + src += read;
> > > + left -= read;
> > > +
> > > + if (fault_in_iov_iter_writeable(iter, left)) {
> > > + ret = -EFAULT;
> > > + goto out;
> > > + }
> > > }
> > > break;
> > > + }
> > > case KCORE_USER:
> > > /* User page is handled prior to normal kernel page: */
> > > if (copy_to_iter((char *)start, tsz, iter) != tsz) {
> >
>