linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v2 1/3] mm: softdirty: enable write notifications on VMAs after VM

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Date:	Sat, 23 Aug 2014 19:15:57 -0400
From:	Peter Feiner <pfeiner@...gle.com>
To:	"Kirill A. Shutemov" <kirill@...temov.name>
Cc:	linux-mm@...ck.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	Cyrill Gorcunov <gorcunov@...nvz.org>,
	Pavel Emelyanov <xemul@...allels.com>,
	Jamie Liu <jamieliu@...gle.com>,
	Hugh Dickins <hughd@...gle.com>,
	Naoya Horiguchi <n-horiguchi@...jp.nec.com>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 1/3] mm: softdirty: enable write notifications on VMAs
 after VM_SOFTDIRTY cleared

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 02:00:11AM +0300, Kirill A. Shutemov wrote:
> On Sat, Aug 23, 2014 at 06:11:59PM -0400, Peter Feiner wrote:
> > diff --git a/fs/proc/task_mmu.c b/fs/proc/task_mmu.c
> > index dfc791c..f1a5382 100644
> > --- a/fs/proc/task_mmu.c
> > +++ b/fs/proc/task_mmu.c
> > @@ -851,8 +851,23 @@ static ssize_t clear_refs_write(struct file *file, const char __user *buf,
> >  			if (type == CLEAR_REFS_MAPPED && !vma->vm_file)
> >  				continue;
> >  			if (type == CLEAR_REFS_SOFT_DIRTY) {
> > -				if (vma->vm_flags & VM_SOFTDIRTY)
> > +				if (vma->vm_flags & VM_SOFTDIRTY) {
> 
> Why do we need the branch here. Does it save us anything?
> Looks like we can update vm_flags and enable writenotify unconditionally.
> Indentation level is high enough already.

You're right, we don't need the branch here. I'll change for v3.

> >  					vma->vm_flags &= ~VM_SOFTDIRTY;
> > +					/*
> > +					 * We don't have a write lock on
> > +					 * mm->mmap_sem, so we race with the
> > +					 * fault handler reading vm_page_prot.
> > +					 * Therefore writable PTEs (that won't
> > +					 * have soft-dirty set) can be created
> > +					 * for read faults. However, since the
> > +					 * PTE lock is held while vm_page_prot
> > +					 * is read and while we write protect
> > +					 * PTEs during our walk, any writable
> > +					 * PTEs that slipped through will be
> > +					 * write protected.
> > +					 */
> 
> Hm.. Isn't this yet another bug?
> Updating vma->vm_flags without down_write(&mm->mmap_sem) looks troublesome
> to me. Am I wrong?

As I said in the comment, it looks fishy but we're still fixing the bug. That
is, no writable PTEs will sneak by that don't have soft-dirty set.

I was originally going to submit something that dropped the mmap_sem and
re-took it in write mode before manipulating vm_page_prot. The control flow was
slightly hairy, so I convinced myself that the race is benign :-)

If I'm right and the race is benign, it still might be worth having the more
straightforward & obviously correct implementation since this isn't performance
critical code.

> > +/* Enable write notifications without blowing away special flags. */
> > +static inline void vma_enable_writenotify(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
> > +{
> > +	vma->vm_page_prot = pgprot_modify(vma->vm_page_prot,
> > +	                                  vm_get_page_prot(vma->vm_flags &
> > +					                   ~VM_SHARED));
> 
> I think this way is more readable:
> 
> 	pgprot_t newprot;
> 	newprot = vm_get_page_prot(vma->vm_flags & ~VM_SHARED);
> 	vma->vm_page_prot = pgprot_modify(vma->vm_page_prot, newprot);
> 

Looks good. I'll update.

> > +}
> > +
> > +/* Disable write notifications without blowing away special flags. */
> > +static inline void vma_disable_writenotify(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
> > +{
> > +	vma->vm_page_prot = pgprot_modify(vma->vm_page_prot,
> > +	                                  vm_get_page_prot(vma->vm_flags));
> 
> ditto.

I'll change this too.

Peter
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