linux-kernel - Re: [rfc][patch 0/3] a faster buffered write deadlock fix?

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Date:	Fri, 9 Feb 2007 12:31:16 +0100
From:	Nick Piggin <npiggin@...e.de>
To:	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>
Cc:	Linux Filesystems <linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Linux Kernel <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
Subject: Re: [rfc][patch 0/3] a faster buffered write deadlock fix?

On Fri, Feb 09, 2007 at 02:52:49AM -0800, Andrew Morton wrote:
> On Fri, 9 Feb 2007 11:32:58 +0100 Nick Piggin <npiggin@...e.de> wrote:
> 
> > On Fri, Feb 09, 2007 at 02:09:54AM -0800, Andrew Morton wrote:
> > > On Fri, 9 Feb 2007 10:54:05 +0100 Nick Piggin <npiggin@...e.de> wrote:
> > > 
> > > > 
> > > > That's still got a deadlock,
> > > 
> > > It does?
> > 
> > Yes, PG_lock vs mm->mmap_sem.
> 
> Where?  It requires that someone hold mmap_sem for writing as well as a
> page lock (in an order which would require some thought).  Do we ever do
> that?

task1			task2			task3
lock_page(page)		down_read(mmap_sem)
						down_write(mmap_sem)
down_read(mmap_sem)
			lock_page(page)

t1 is blocked by t3
t2 is blocked by t1
t3 is blocked by t2

OK, it isn't quite ABBA, but that's shorthand if we remember that
that an rwsem read must obey normal lock nesting rules.

> > > >  and also it doesn't work if we want to lock
> > > > the page when performing a minor fault (which I want to fix fault vs
> > > > invalidate),
> > > 
> > > It's hard to discuss this without a description of what you want to fix
> > > there, and a description of how you plan to fix it.
> > 
> > http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-mm&m=116865911432667&w=2
> 
> mutter.
> 
> Could perhaps fix that by running ClearPageUptodate in invalidate, thus
> forcing the pagefault code to take the page lock (which we already hold).
> 
> That does mean that we'll fleetingly have a non-uptodate page in pagetables
> which is a bit nasty.
> 
> Or, probably better, we could add a new page flag (heh) telling nopage that
> it needs to lock the page even if it's uptodate.

I don't see how either of those suggestions would fix this bug.

> > > > and also assumes nobody's ->nopage locks the page or
> > > > requires any resources that are held by prepare_write (something not
> > > > immediately clear to me with the cluster filesystems, at least).
> > > 
> > > The nopage handler is filemap_nopage().  Are there any exceptions to that?
> > 
> > OCFS2 and GFS2.
> 
> So the rule is that ->nopage handlers against pagecache mustn't lock the
> page if it's already uptodate.  That's OK.  But it might conflict with the
> above invalidate proposal.

Well that _will_ be the rule if you want to do Linus's half-fix. It will
also be the rule that they're not to deadlock against prepare_write.

> > > > But that all becomes legacy path, so do we really care? Supposing fs
> > > > maintainers like perform_write, then after the main ones have implementations
> > > > we could switch over to the slow-but-correct prepare_write legacy path.
> > > > Or we could leave it, or we could use Linus's slightly-less-buggy scheme...
> > > > by that point I expect I'd be sick of arguing about it ;)
> > > 
> > > It's worth "arguing" about.  This is write().  What matters more??
> > 
> > That's the legacy path that uses prepare/commit (ie. supposing that all
> > major filesystems did get converted to perform_write).
> 
> We'll never, ever, ever update and test all filesytems.  What you're
> calling "legacy" code will be there for all time.

I didn't say all; I still prefer correct than fast; you are still free
to keep the fast-and-buggy code in the legacy path.

> 
> I haven't had time to look at the perform_write stuff yet.
> 
> > Of course I would still want my correct-but-slow version in that case,
> > but I just wouldn't care to argue if you still wanted to keep it fast.
> 
> This is write().  We just cannot go and double-copy all the memory or take
> mmap_sem and do a full pagetable walk in there.  It just means that we
> haven't found a suitable solution yet.

You prefer speed over correctness even for little used filessytems, which
is fine because I'm sick of arguing about it. The main thing for me is that
important filesystems can be correct and fast.

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