linux-kernel - Re: [RFC][PATCH v2 1/2] printk: Make printk() completely async

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Date:	Mon, 7 Mar 2016 13:16:25 +0100
From:	Jan Kara <jack@...e.cz>
To:	Sergey Senozhatsky <sergey.senozhatsky.work@...il.com>
Cc:	Jan Kara <jack@...e.cz>,
	Tetsuo Handa <penguin-kernel@...ove.SAKURA.ne.jp>,
	akpm@...ux-foundation.org, jack@...e.com, pmladek@...e.com,
	tj@...nel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	sergey.senozhatsky@...il.com
Subject: Re: [RFC][PATCH v2 1/2] printk: Make printk() completely async

On Mon 07-03-16 11:52:48, Jan Kara wrote:
> On Mon 07-03-16 19:12:33, Sergey Senozhatsky wrote:
> > Hello,
> > 
> > On (03/07/16 09:22), Jan Kara wrote:
> > [..]
> > > > hm, just for note, none of system-wide wqs seem to have a ->rescuer thread
> > > > (WQ_MEM_RECLAIM).
> > > > 
> > > > [..]
> > > > > Even if you use printk_wq with WQ_MEM_RECLAIM for printing_work work item,
> > > > > printing_work_func() will not be called until current work item calls
> > > > > schedule_timeout_*(). That will be an undesirable random delay. If you use
> > > > > a dedicated kernel thread rather than a dedicated workqueue with WQ_MEM_RECLAIM,
> > > > > we can avoid this random delay.
> > > > 
> > > > hm. yes, seems that it may take some time until workqueue wakeup() a ->rescuer thread.
> > > > need to look more.
> > > 
> > > Yes, it takes some time (0.1s or 2 jiffies) before workqueue code gives up
> > > creating a worker process and wakes up rescuer thread. However I don't see
> > > that as a problem...
> > 
> > yes, that's why I asked Tetsuo whether his concern was a wq's MAYDAY timer
> > delay. the two commits that Tetsuo pointed at earlier in he loop (373ccbe59270
> > and 564e81a57f97) solved the problem by switching to WQ_MEM_RECLAIM wq.
> > I've slightly tested OOM-kill on my desktop system and haven't spotted any
> > printk delays (well, a test on desktop is not really representative, of
> > course).
> > 
> > 
> > the only thing that so far grabbed my attention - is
> > 
> > 	__this_cpu_or(printk_pending)
> > 	irq_work_queue(this_cpu_ptr(&wake_up_klogd_work));
> > 
> > a _theoretical_ corner case here is when we have only one CPU doing a bunch
> > of printk()s and this CPUs disables irqs in advance
> > 	local_irq_save
> > 	for (...)
> > 		printk()
> > 	local_irq_restore()
> > 
> > if no other CPUs see `printk_pending' then nothing will be printed up
> > until local_irq_restore() (assuming that IRQ disable time is withing
> > the hardlockup detection threshold). if any other CPUs concurrently
> > execute printk then we are fine, but
> > 	a) if none -- then we probably have a small change in behaviour
> > and
> > 	b) UP systems
> 
> So for UP systems, we should by default disable async printing anyway I
> suppose. It is just a pointless overhead. So please just make printk_sync
> default to true if !CONFIG_SMP.
> 
> When IRQs are disabled, you're right we will have a change in behavior. I
> don't see an easy way of avoiding delaying of printk until IRQs get
> enabled. I don't want to queue work directly because that creates
> possibility for lock recursion in queue_work(). And playing some tricks
> with irq_works isn't easy either - you cannot actually rely on any other
> CPU doing anything (even a timer tick) because of NOHZ.
> 
> So if this will be a problem in practice, using a kthread will probably be
> the easiest solution.

Hum, and thinking more about it: Considering that WQ_MEM_RECLAIM workqueues
create kthread anyway as a rescuer thread, it may be the simplest to just
go back to using a single kthread for printing. What do you think?

								Honza
-- 
Jan Kara <jack@...e.com>
SUSE Labs, CR