linux-ext4 - Re: [patch] fix up lock order reversal in writeback

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Message-ID: <20101118235837.GE5004@quack.suse.cz>
Date:	Fri, 19 Nov 2010 00:58:37 +0100
From:	Jan Kara <jack@...e.cz>
To:	Chris Mason <chris.mason@...cle.com>
Cc:	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
	Nick Piggin <npiggin@...nel.dk>, Ted Ts'o <tytso@....edu>,
	Eric Sandeen <sandeen@...hat.com>, Jan Kara <jack@...e.cz>,
	linux-fsdevel <linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org>,
	linux-ext4 <linux-ext4@...r.kernel.org>,
	linux-btrfs <linux-btrfs@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [patch] fix up lock order reversal in writeback

On Thu 18-11-10 13:33:54, Chris Mason wrote:
> > Can we just delete writeback_inodes_sb_nr_if_idle() and
> > writeback_inodes_sb_if_idle()?  The changelog for 17bd55d037a02 is
> > pretty handwavy - do we know that deleting these things would make a
> > jot of difference?
> > 
> > And why _do_ we need to hold s_umount during the bdi_queue_work()
> > handover?  Would simply bumping s_count suffice?
> > 
> 
> We don't need to keep the super in ram, we need to keep the FS mounted
> so that writepage and friends continue to do useful things.  s_count
> isn't enough for that...but when the bdi stuff is passed an SB from
> something that has the SB explicitly pinned, we should be able to safely
> skip the locking.
> 
> Since these functions are only used in that context it makes good sense
> to try_lock them or drop the lock completely.
> 
> I think the only reason we need the lock:
> 
> void writeback_inodes_sb_nr(struct super_block *sb, unsigned long nr)
> {
> ...
>         WARN_ON(!rwsem_is_locked(&sb->s_umount));
  The above is the only reason why we need the lock in the call from
->write_begin(). Yes. But:

> We're not going to go from rw to ro with dirty pages unless something
> horrible has gone wrong (eios all around in the FS), so I'm not sure why
> we need the lock at all?
  One of the nasty cases is for example: Writeback thread decides inode
needs writeout, so the thread gets inode reference. Then someone calls
umount and gets EBUSY because writeback thread is working. Kind of
unexpected... So generally we *do* need a serialization of writeback thread
and umount / remount. Just in that particular case where we call the
function from ->write_begin(), s_umount is overkill...

								Honza
-- 
Jan Kara <jack@...e.cz>
SUSE Labs, CR
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