linux-kernel - Re: Sysfs and suicidal attributes

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Message-ID: <20070709172623.0c87aafd@gondolin.boeblingen.de.ibm.com>
Date:	Mon, 9 Jul 2007 17:26:23 +0200
From:	Cornelia Huck <cornelia.huck@...ibm.com>
To:	Alan Stern <stern@...land.harvard.edu>
Cc:	Tejun Heo <htejun@...il.com>,
	Kernel development list <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: Sysfs and suicidal attributes

On Sun, 8 Jul 2007 10:31:21 -0400 (EDT),
Alan Stern <stern@...land.harvard.edu> wrote:

> There are some ways around this such as using a different workqueue, 
> one that could safely be blocked during the suspend.

This would be the simplest solution, I think.

> 	The user writes to an attribute file.
> 
> 	The sysfs core calls the attribute's store method.
> 
> 	The method tells the sysfs core to pretend that the call
> 	temporarily doesn't exist, or has completed, or something
> 	like that.

Or add an ignore-for-now-flag to the buffer? It would need to be
processed in a second pass.

> 	The method safely unregisters the attribute file, with no
> 	mutual exclusion problems and no deadlock.  Of course, the
> 	unregistration will still block until all _other_ method
> 	calls for this attribute are complete.
> 
> 	The method tells the sysfs core to stop pretending and
> 	go back to its normal state.
> 
> 	The method returns, and the sysfs core takes whatever actions
> 	are needed to fully release the attribute file.

It would need to retain a reference to the buffer collection so it can
get rid of the formerly-ignored buffer.

> The idea is that there could be a way to allow unregistration while a 
> method is still running, if the method specifically requests it.  If we 
> could do this then device_schedule_callback() would be unnecessary.
> 
> What do you think?

I don't think that this is easy to get correct. Another workqueue looks
like a solution which is easy to get right, even if it may not seem so
nice.
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