Re: [BUG] commit 3c517a61, slab: better fallback allocation behavior

[Paul Jackson <pj@sgi.com>]

Christoph wrote:
> +		if (local_flags & __GFP_WAIT)
> +			local_irq_enable();
> +		kmem_flagcheck(cache, flags);
>  		obj = kmem_getpages(cache, flags, -1);
> +		if (local_flags & __GFP_WAIT)
> +			local_irq_disable();

This seems strange to me.  I am surprised that it is ok for a routine
that is called with irq's disabled, to enable them momentarilly.

I'd have thought the caller of this routine, who called it with irq's
disabled, would expect irq's to remain disabled across the entire call.

I guess I'm assuming that disabled irq's are like a lock, not to be
momentarilly dropped by some nested routine without the explicit
awareness and consent of the caller.

But I don't really know what I'm talking about here.  Perhaps some
more clueful soul can educate me.

-- 
                  I won't rest till it's the best ...
                  Programmer, Linux Scalability
                  Paul Jackson <pj@sgi.com> 1.925.600.0401