linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 2/4] Add replace_page(), change the mapping of pte from one page into another

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Date:	Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:09:03 -0500
From:	Lee Schermerhorn <Lee.Schermerhorn@...com>
To:	Christoph Lameter <cl@...ux-foundation.org>
Cc:	Andrea Arcangeli <aarcange@...hat.com>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
	Izik Eidus <ieidus@...hat.com>, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-mm@...ck.org, kvm@...r.kernel.org, chrisw@...hat.com,
	avi@...hat.com, izike@...ranet.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/4] Add replace_page(), change the mapping of pte from
	one page into another

On Wed, 2008-11-12 at 14:27 -0600, Christoph Lameter wrote:
> On Wed, 12 Nov 2008, Andrea Arcangeli wrote:
> 
> > On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 09:10:45PM -0600, Christoph Lameter wrote:
> > > get_user_pages() cannot get to it since the pagetables have already been
> > > modified. If get_user_pages runs then the fault handling will occur
> > > which will block the thread until migration is complete.
> >
> > migrate.c does nothing for ptes pointing to swap entries and
> > do_swap_page won't wait for them either. Assume follow_page in
> 
> If a anonymous page is a swap page then it has a mapping.
> migrate_page_move_mapping() will lock the radix tree and ensure that no
> additional reference (like done by do_swap_page) is established during
> migration.

So, it's Nick's reference freezing you asked about in response to my
mail that prevents do_swap_page() from getting another reference on the
page in the swap cache just after migrate_page_move_mapping() checks the
ref count and replaces the slot with new swap pte.  Radix tree lock just
prevents other threads from modifying the slot, right?  [Hmmm, looks
like we need to update the reference to "write lock" in the comments on
the 'deref_slot() and _replace_slot() definitions in radix-tree.h.]  

Therefore, do_swap_page() will either get the old page and raise the ref
before migration check, or it will [possibly loop in find_get_page() and
then] get the new page.

Migration will bail out, for this pass anyway, in the former case.  In
the second case, do_swap_page() will wait on the new page lock until
migration completes, deferring any direct IO. 

Or am I still missing something?

> 
> > However it's not exactly the same bug as the one in fork, I was
> > talking about before, it's also not o_direct specific. Still
> 
> So far I have seen wild ideas not bugs.

Maybe not so wild, given the complexity of these interactions... 

Later,
Lee

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