linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v2] USB: cdc-acm: Prevent data loss when filling tty buffer.

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Date:	Tue, 22 Mar 2011 11:05:26 +0100
From:	Johan Hovold <jhovold@...il.com>
To:	Toby Gray <toby.gray@...lvnc.com>,
	Alan Cox <alan@...rguk.ukuu.org.uk>
Cc:	Oliver Neukum <oliver@...kum.name>,
	Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...e.de>, linux-usb@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] USB: cdc-acm: Prevent data loss when filling tty
 buffer.

On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 06:04:58PM +0000, Toby Gray wrote:
> When sending large quantities of data through a CDC ACM channel it is possible
> for data to be lost when attempting to copy the data to the tty buffer. This
> occurs due to the return value from tty_insert_flip_string not being checked.
> 
> This patch adds checking for how many bytes have been inserted into the tty
> buffer and returns any remaining bytes back to the filled read buffer list.

[...]

> @@ -392,6 +393,7 @@ static void acm_rx_tasklet(unsigned long _acm)

[...]

> -	spin_lock_irqsave(&acm->read_lock, flags);
> -	list_add(&buf->list, &acm->spare_read_bufs);
> -	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&acm->read_lock, flags);
> +	buf->head += copied;
> +	buf->size -= copied;
> +
> +	if (buf->size == 0) {
> +		spin_lock_irqsave(&acm->read_lock, flags);
> +		list_add(&buf->list, &acm->spare_read_bufs);
> +		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&acm->read_lock, flags);
> +	} else {
> +		tty_kref_put(tty);
> +		dbg("Partial buffer fill");
> +		spin_lock_irqsave(&acm->read_lock, flags);
> +		list_add(&buf->list, &acm->filled_read_bufs);
> +		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&acm->read_lock, flags);
> +		return;
> +	}
> +

Say you fill up the tty buffer using the last of the sixteen buffers and
return in the else clause above, how will the tasklet ever get
re-scheduled?

The problem is that the tasklet is only scheduled on urb completion and
unthrottle (after open), and if you return above no urb will get
re-submitted. So the only way this will work is if it can be guaranteed
that the line discipline will throttle and later unthrottle us. I
doubt that is the case, but perhaps Alan can give a more definite
answer?

[By the way, did you see Filippe Balbi's patch posted today claiming to
fix a bug in n_tty which could cause data loss at high speeds?]

I was just about to submit a patch series killing the rx tasklet and
heavily simplifying the cdc-acm driver when you posted last night. I
think that if this mechanism is needed it is more straight-forwardly
implemented on top of those as they removes a lot of complexity and
makes it easier to spot corner cases such as the one pointed out above.

I would also prefer a more generic solution to the problem so that we
don't need to re-introduce driver buffering again. Since we already have
the throttelling mechanism in place, if we could only be notified/find
out that the tty buffers are say half-full, we could throttle (from
within the driver) but still push the remaining buffer still on the wire
as they arrive. It would of course require a guarantee that such a
throttle-is-about-to-happen notification is actually followed by (a
throttle and) unthrottle. Thoughts on that?

Thanks,
Johan
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