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* possible deadlock in sys_pivot_root()?
@ 2003-01-27 14:12 Nikita Danilov
  2003-01-27 15:04 ` Nikita Danilov
  2003-01-27 15:12 ` Russell King
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: Nikita Danilov @ 2003-01-27 14:12 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Linux Kernel Mailing List; +Cc: Andrew Morton, Alexander Viro

Hello,

sys_pivot_root() first takes BKL, then ->i_sem on the old root
directory. On the other hand, vfs_readdir() first takes ->i_sem on a
directory and then calls file system ->readdir() method, that usually
takes BKL. Isn't there a deadlock possibility? Of course,
sys_pivot_root() is probably not supposed to be called frequently, but
still.

Nikita.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread

* Re: possible deadlock in sys_pivot_root()?
  2003-01-27 14:12 possible deadlock in sys_pivot_root()? Nikita Danilov
@ 2003-01-27 15:04 ` Nikita Danilov
  2003-01-27 15:12 ` Russell King
  1 sibling, 0 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: Nikita Danilov @ 2003-01-27 15:04 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Linux Kernel Mailing List; +Cc: Andrew Morton, Alexander Viro

Nikita Danilov writes:
 > Hello,
 > 
 > sys_pivot_root() first takes BKL, then ->i_sem on the old root
 > directory. On the other hand, vfs_readdir() first takes ->i_sem on a
 > directory and then calls file system ->readdir() method, that usually
 > takes BKL. Isn't there a deadlock possibility? Of course,

Should think more before posting. Special treatment of BKL by scheduler
makes this impossible.

Nikita.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread

* Re: possible deadlock in sys_pivot_root()?
  2003-01-27 14:12 possible deadlock in sys_pivot_root()? Nikita Danilov
  2003-01-27 15:04 ` Nikita Danilov
@ 2003-01-27 15:12 ` Russell King
  1 sibling, 0 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: Russell King @ 2003-01-27 15:12 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Nikita Danilov; +Cc: Linux Kernel Mailing List, Andrew Morton, Alexander Viro

On Mon, Jan 27, 2003 at 05:12:27PM +0300, Nikita Danilov wrote:
> sys_pivot_root() first takes BKL, then ->i_sem on the old root
> directory. On the other hand, vfs_readdir() first takes ->i_sem on a
> directory and then calls file system ->readdir() method, that usually
> takes BKL. Isn't there a deadlock possibility? Of course,
> sys_pivot_root() is probably not supposed to be called frequently, but
> still.

No, you can't deadlock here.  When you get contention on the i_sem,
one thread will be put to sleep, and when that happens, the BKL will
be automatically released.

So:

  CPU0				CPU1

  BKL
				i_sem
				BKL (spins, waiting for BKL to be released)

  i_sem (finds it locked,
       and sleeps, which
       releases the BKL)
                                (BKL is now released, CPU1 continues)

-- 
Russell King (rmk@arm.linux.org.uk)                The developer of ARM Linux
             http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/personal/aboutme.html


^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2003-01-27 15:03 UTC | newest]

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2003-01-27 14:12 possible deadlock in sys_pivot_root()? Nikita Danilov
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