Re: timer + fpu stuff locks up computer

[Alexander Nyberg <alexn@telia.com>]

On Sat, 2004-06-12 at 20:45, Sergey Vlasov wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 12, 2004 at 07:14:22PM +0400, Sergey Vlasov wrote:
> > If the FPU state belong to the userspace process, kernel_fpu_begin()
> > is safe even if some exceptions are pending.  However, after
> > __clear_fpu() the FPU is "orphaned", and kernel_fpu_begin() does
> > nothing with it.
> > 
> > Replacing fwait with fnclex instead of removing it completely should
> > avoid the fault later.
> 
> Yes, it seems to be enough.  Another case where it looks like FPU
> might be "orphaned" is exit(); however, it is handled as a normal task
> switch, __switch_to() calls __unlazy_fpu(), which clears pending
> exceptions.
> 
> I'm still not sure what to do about possibly lost FP exceptions.  This
> can happen in two cases:
> 
> 1) Program calls execve() while an FP exception is pending.
> 
>    In this case clear_fpu() is called when the original executable is
>    already destroyed.  Even if we generate a SIGFPE in this case, it
>    would be delivered to the new executable.
> 
> 2) Program returns from a signal handler while an FP exception is
>    pending.
> 
>    In this case at clear_fpu() time restore_sigcontext() has already
>    wiped out all state of the signal handler, so the SIGFPE would
>    appear to be raised from the program code at the point where it was
>    interrupted by the handled signal.
> 
> Signed-Off-By: Sergey Vlasov <vsu@altlinux.ru>
> 
> --- linux-2.6.6/include/asm-i386/i387.h.fp-lockup	2004-05-10 06:33:06 +0400
> +++ linux-2.6.6/include/asm-i386/i387.h	2004-06-12 22:02:58 +0400
> @@ -48,10 +48,17 @@
>  		save_init_fpu( tsk ); \
>  } while (0)
>  
> +/*
> + * There might be some pending exceptions in the FP state at this point.
> + * However, it is too late to report them: this code is called during execve()
> + * (when the original executable is already gone) and during sigreturn() (when
> + * the signal handler context is already lost).  So just clear them to prevent
> + * problems later.
> + */
>  #define __clear_fpu( tsk )					\
>  do {								\
>  	if ((tsk)->thread_info->status & TS_USEDFPU) {		\
> -		asm volatile("fwait");				\
> +		asm volatile("fnclex");				\
>  		(tsk)->thread_info->status &= ~TS_USEDFPU;	\
>  		stts();						\
>  	}							\
> 

This works, tested also on a box with md and things looked fine.


Alex