linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 39/41] kernel/fork: throttle call_rcu() calls in vm_area

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Date:   Mon, 23 Jan 2023 09:07:34 -0800
From:   Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@...gle.com>
To:     Michal Hocko <mhocko@...e.com>
Cc:     Matthew Wilcox <willy@...radead.org>,
        "Liam R. Howlett" <Liam.Howlett@...cle.com>,
        akpm@...ux-foundation.org, michel@...pinasse.org,
        jglisse@...gle.com, vbabka@...e.cz, hannes@...xchg.org,
        mgorman@...hsingularity.net, dave@...olabs.net,
        peterz@...radead.org, ldufour@...ux.ibm.com,
        laurent.dufour@...ibm.com, paulmck@...nel.org, luto@...nel.org,
        songliubraving@...com, peterx@...hat.com, david@...hat.com,
        dhowells@...hat.com, hughd@...gle.com, bigeasy@...utronix.de,
        kent.overstreet@...ux.dev, punit.agrawal@...edance.com,
        lstoakes@...il.com, peterjung1337@...il.com, rientjes@...gle.com,
        axelrasmussen@...gle.com, joelaf@...gle.com, minchan@...gle.com,
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        arjunroy@...gle.com, soheil@...gle.com, hughlynch@...gle.com,
        leewalsh@...gle.com, posk@...gle.com, linux-mm@...ck.org,
        linux-arm-kernel@...ts.infradead.org,
        linuxppc-dev@...ts.ozlabs.org, x86@...nel.org,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, kernel-team@...roid.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH 39/41] kernel/fork: throttle call_rcu() calls in vm_area_free

On Mon, Jan 23, 2023 at 8:55 AM Michal Hocko <mhocko@...e.com> wrote:
>
> On Mon 23-01-23 08:22:53, Suren Baghdasaryan wrote:
> > On Mon, Jan 23, 2023 at 1:56 AM Michal Hocko <mhocko@...e.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > On Fri 20-01-23 09:50:01, Suren Baghdasaryan wrote:
> > > > On Fri, Jan 20, 2023 at 9:32 AM Matthew Wilcox <willy@...radead.org> wrote:
> > > [...]
> > > > > The page fault handler (or whatever other reader -- ptrace, proc, etc)
> > > > > should have a refcount on the mm_struct, so we can't be in this path
> > > > > trying to free VMAs.  Right?
> > > >
> > > > Hmm. That sounds right. I checked process_mrelease() as well, which
> > > > operated on mm with only mmgrab()+mmap_read_lock() but it only unmaps
> > > > VMAs without freeing them, so we are still good. Michal, do you agree
> > > > this is ok?
> > >
> > > Don't we need RCU procetions for the vma life time assurance? Jann has
> > > already shown how rwsem is not safe wrt to unlock and free without RCU.
> >
> > Jann's case requires a thread freeing the VMA to be blocked on vma
> > write lock waiting for the vma real lock to be released by a page
> > fault handler. However exit_mmap() means mm->mm_users==0, which in
> > turn suggests that there are no racing page fault handlers and no new
> > page fault handlers will appear. Is that a correct assumption? If so,
> > then races with page fault handlers can't happen while in exit_mmap().
> > Any other path (other than page fault handlers), accesses vma->lock
> > under protection of mmap_lock (for read or write, does not matter).
> > One exception is when we operate on an isolated VMA, then we don't
> > need mmap_lock protection, but exit_mmap() does not deal with isolated
> > VMAs, so out of scope here. exit_mmap() frees vm_area_structs under
> > protection of mmap_lock in write mode, so races with anything other
> > than page fault handler should be safe as they are today.
>
> I do not see you talking about #PF (RCU + vma read lock protected) with
> munmap. It is my understanding that the latter will synchronize over per
> vma lock (along with mmap_lock exclusive locking). But then we are back
> to the lifetime guarantees, or do I miss anything.

munmap() or any VMA-freeing operation other than exit_mmap() will free
using call_rcu(), as implemented today. The suggestion is to free VMAs
directly, without RCU grace period only when done from exit_mmap().
That' because VMA freeing flood has been seen so far only in the case
of exit_mmap() and we assume other cases are not that heavy to cause
call_rcu() flood to cause regressions. That assumption might prove
false but we can deal with that once we know it needs fixing.

> --
> Michal Hocko
> SUSE Labs