linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 0/6 RFC] Remove the BKL from sys

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Message-ID: <20091012225522.GC4711@nowhere>
Date:	Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:55:23 +0200
From:	Frederic Weisbecker <fweisbec@...il.com>
To:	John Kacur <jkacur@...hat.com>
Cc:	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
	Vincent Sanders <vince@...tec.co.uk>,
	Ingo Molnar <mingo@...e.hu>,
	Christoph Hellwig <hch@...radead.org>,
	Alan Cox <alan@...rguk.ukuu.org.uk>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
	Jonathan Corbet <corbet@....net>,
	Mike Frysinger <vapier@...too.org>,
	David Howells <dhowells@...hat.com>,
	Yoshinori Sato <ysato@...rs.sourceforge.jp>,
	Roman Zippel <zippel@...ux-m68k.org>,
	Greg Ungerer <gerg@...inux.org>,
	Koichi Yasutake <yasutake.koichi@...panasonic.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/6 RFC] Remove the BKL from sys_execve on various
	architectures

On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 12:32:59AM +0200, John Kacur wrote:
> Most of the mainstream architectures such as x86, x86-64 and ppc, do not 
> use the bkl in sys_execve.
> 
> All of the architectures that still use it, look like copy-and-pastes from 
> a time when the mainstream architectures did use it. In addition, all of 
> the call-outs appear to be to generic functions that are safe to use 
> without the bkl. Therefore, I believe it should be safe to simply remove.
> 
> However, the bkl does some surprising things, and I could be wrong. So 
> please have a look at let us know if there is a reason why your 
> architecture does indeed need the bkl in sys_execve.
> 
> Even better, grab the relevant patch and do some testing and report back.
> 
> Thank you in advance.
> 
> John Kacur


They are all build around the same pattern (the same code actually)
that looks pretty safe. I'm perhaps missing something tricky too, but
as far as I can tell:

Reviewed-by: Frederic Weisbecker <fweisbec@...il.com>

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