linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] show message when exceeded rlimit of pending signals

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Date:	Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:02:57 +0900
From:	Naohiro Ooiwa <nooiwa@...aclelinux.com>
To:	Ingo Molnar <mingo@...e.hu>
CC:	akpm@...ux-foundation.org, oleg@...hat.com, roland@...hat.com,
	LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>, h-shimamoto@...jp.nec.com,
	Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
	Peter Zijlstra <a.p.zijlstra@...llo.nl>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] show message when exceeded rlimit of pending signals

Hi Ingo

Thank you so much for early quick reply.
and I'm happy you agree with my proposal.

> Regarding the patch, i've got a few (very) small suggestions.

Thank you for pointing out.
Please wait a moment. I will resend a patch.

Of course, I will plan to use print_ratelimit().
Actually, I received with same opinion from OGAWA-san.


Thank you
Naohiro Ooiwa.


Ingo Molnar wrote:
> * Naohiro Ooiwa <nooiwa@...aclelinux.com> wrote:
> 
>> Hi Andrew,
>>
>> I was glad to talk to you in Japan Linux Symposium.
>> I'm writing about it.
>>
>>
>> I'm working to support kernel.
>> Recently, I got a inquiry about unexpected system behavior.
>> I analyzed application of our customer includeing kernel.
>>
>> Eventually, there was no bug in application or kernel.
>> I found the cause was the limit of pending signals.
>> I ran following command. and system behaved expectedly.
>>    # ulimit -i unlimited
>>
>> When system behaved unexpectedly, the timer_create() in application
>> had returned -EAGAIN value.
>> But we can't imagine the -EAGAIN means that it exceeded limit of
>> pending signals at all.
>>
>> Then I thought kernel should at least show some message about it.
>> And I tried to create a patch.
>>
>> I'm sure that system engineeres will not have to have the same experience as I did.
>> How do you think about this idea ?
>>
>> Thank you
>> Naohiro Ooiwa.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Naohiro Ooiwa <nooiwa@...aclelinux.com>
>> ---
>>  kernel/signal.c |   13 +++++++++++++
>>  1 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/kernel/signal.c b/kernel/signal.c
>> index 6705320..0bc4934 100644
>> --- a/kernel/signal.c
>> +++ b/kernel/signal.c
>> @@ -188,6 +188,9 @@ int next_signal(struct sigpending *pending, sigset_t *mask)
>>  	return sig;
>>  }
>>
>> +#define MAX_RLIMIT_CAUTION 5
>> +static int rlimit_caution_count = 0;
>> +
>>  /*
>>   * allocate a new signal queue record
>>   * - this may be called without locks if and only if t == current, otherwise an
>> @@ -211,6 +214,16 @@ static struct sigqueue *__sigqueue_alloc(struct task_struct *t, gfp_t flags,
>>  	    atomic_read(&user->sigpending) <=
>>  			t->signal->rlim[RLIMIT_SIGPENDING].rlim_cur)
>>  		q = kmem_cache_alloc(sigqueue_cachep, flags);
>> +	else {
>> +		if (rlimit_caution_count <= MAX_RLIMIT_CAUTION ){
>> +			printk(KERN_WARNING "reached the limit of pending signalis on pid %d\n", current->pid);
>> +			/* Last time, show the advice */
>> +			if (rlimit_caution_count == MAX_RLIMIT_CAUTION)
>> +				printk(KERN_WARNING "If unexpected your system behavior, you can try ulimit -i unlimited\n");
>> +			rlimit_caution_count++;
>> +		}
>> +	}
>> +
>>  	if (unlikely(q == NULL)) {
>>  		atomic_dec(&user->sigpending);
>>  		free_uid(user);
> 
> This new warning looks quite useful, i've seen several apps get into 
> trouble silently due to that, again and again.
> 
> The memory overhead of the signal queue was a problem 15 years ago ... 
> not so much today and people (and apps) dont expect to get in trouble 
> here. So the limit and its defaults are somewhat arcane, and the 
> behavior is catastrophic and hard to debug (because it's a dynamic 
> failure).
> 
> Regarding the patch, i've got a few (very) small suggestions.
> 
> Firstly, please update the if / else sequence from:
> 
> 	if (...)
> 		...
> 	else {
> 		...
> 	}
> 
> to:
> 
> 	if (...) {
> 		...
> 	} else {
> 		...
> 	}
> 
> as we strive for curly brace symmetries.
> 
> also, a small typo: s/signalis/signals
> 
> Plus, instead of using a pre-cooked global limit print_ratelimit() could 
> be used as well. That makes it useful for long-lived systems that run 
> into this limit occasionally. We wont spam the log - nor will we lose 
> (potentially essential) messages in the process.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> 	Ingo


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