linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH printk v2 09/11] panic: Add atomic write enforcement to oops

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Date:   Wed, 20 Sep 2023 16:26:12 +0206
From:   John Ogness <john.ogness@...utronix.de>
To:     Andy Shevchenko <andriy.shevchenko@...ux.intel.com>
Cc:     Petr Mladek <pmladek@...e.com>,
        Sergey Senozhatsky <senozhatsky@...omium.org>,
        Steven Rostedt <rostedt@...dmis.org>,
        Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>,
        Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@...nel.org>,
        Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
        Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
        Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@...nel.org>,
        Arnd Bergmann <arnd@...db.de>,
        "Guilherme G. Piccoli" <gpiccoli@...lia.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH printk v2 09/11] panic: Add atomic write enforcement to
 oops

On 2023-09-20, Andy Shevchenko <andriy.shevchenko@...ux.intel.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 20, 2023 at 01:14:54AM +0206, John Ogness wrote:
>> Invoke the atomic write enforcement functions for oops to
>> ensure that the information gets out to the consoles.
>> 
>> Since there is no single general function that calls both
>> oops_enter() and oops_exit(), the nesting feature of atomic
>> write sections is taken advantage of in order to guarantee
>> full coverage between the first oops_enter() and the last
>> oops_exit().
>> 
>> It is important to note that if there are any legacy consoles
>> registered, they will be attempting to directly print from the
>> printk-caller context, which may jeopardize the reliability of
>> the atomic consoles. Optimally there should be no legacy
>> consoles registered.
>
> ...
>
>> +	if (atomic_read(&oops_cpu) == smp_processor_id()) {
>> +		oops_nesting--;
>> +		if (oops_nesting == 0) {
>> +			atomic_set(&oops_cpu, -1);
>
> Between read and set the variable can change, can't it?

CPU migration is disabled. @oops_cpu contains the CPU ID of the only CPU
that is printing the oops. (Perhaps the variable should be called
"oops_printing_cpu"?)

If this matches smp_processor_id(), then the current CPU is the only one
that is allowed to change it back to -1. So no, if the first condition
is true, it cannot change before atomic_set(). And if the second
condition is true, this is the only CPU+context that is allowed to
change it back to -1;

> If not, why this variable is atomic then? Or, why it's not a problem?
> If the latter is the case, perhaps a comment to explain this?

If not atomic, it will be a data race since one CPU might be changing
@oops_cpu and another is reading it. For type "int" such a data race
would be fine because it doesn't matter which side of the race the
reader was on, both values will not match the current CPU ID.

The reason that I didn't implement it using cmpxchg(),
data_race(READ_ONCE()), and WRITE_ONCE() is because I once learned that
you should never mix cmpxchg() with READ_ONCE()/WRITE_ONCE() because
there are architectures that do not support cmpxchg() as an atomic
instruction. The answer was always: "use atomic_t instead... that is
what it is for".

But AFAICT for this case it would be fine because obviously cmpxchg()
will not race with itself. And successfully reading a matching CPU ID
means there cannot be any cmpxchg() in progress. And writing only occurs
after seeing a matching CPU ID.

So I can change it from atomic_t to int. Although I do feel like that
might require explanation about why the data race is safe.

Or perhaps it is enough just to have something like this:

/**
 * oops_printing_cpu - The ID of the CPU responsible for printing the
 *                     OOPS message(s) to the consoles.
 *
 * This is atomic_t because multiple CPUs can read this variable
 * simultaneously when exiting OOPS while another CPU can be
 * modifying this variable to begin or end its printing duties.
 */
static atomic_t oops_printing_cpu = ATOMIC_INIT(-1);

John Ogness