linux-kernel - Re: [linux-pm] Is it supposed to be ok to call del

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.44L0.1003032142580.6963-100000@netrider.rowland.org>
Date:	Wed, 3 Mar 2010 21:48:39 -0500 (EST)
From:	Alan Stern <stern@...land.harvard.edu>
To:	"Rafael J. Wysocki" <rjw@...k.pl>
cc:	Pavel Machek <pavel@....cz>, Jens Axboe <jens.axboe@...cle.com>,
	Maxim Levitsky <maximlevitsky@...il.com>,
	linux-pm <linux-pm@...ts.linux-foundation.org>,
	linux-kernel <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>
Subject: Re: [linux-pm] Is it supposed to be ok to call del_gendisk while
 userspace is frozen?

On Thu, 4 Mar 2010, Rafael J. Wysocki wrote:

> > Very well.  Then we still need a solution to the original problem:  
> > Devices sometimes need to be unregistered during resume, but
> > del_gendisk() blocks on the writeback thread, which is frozen until
> > after the resume finishes.  How do you suggest this be fixed?
> 
> I thought about thawing the writeback thread earlier in such cases.
> 
> Would that makes sense / is it doable at all?

My thought exactly.  This is the only approach that also solves the 
following race:

	A driver is unloaded at the same time as a suspend starts.

	The writeback thread gets frozen.

	Then before the rmmod thread is frozen, it calls del_gendisk.

Delaying things by means of a workqueue (or the equivalent) might also 
work, but it doesn't seem as safe.  For example, some important 
writebacks might end up getting delayed until too late.

Alan Stern

--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@...r.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/