netdev - Re: HPET regression in 2.6.26 versus 2.6.25 -- why Yinghai's revert may have failed

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Date:	Thu, 14 Aug 2008 05:20:43 -0700 (PDT)
From:	David Witbrodt <dawitbro@...global.net>
To:	Yinghai Lu <yhlu.kernel@...il.com>
Cc:	Ingo Molnar <mingo@...e.hu>, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	"Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>,
	Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
	Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
	"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>, netdev <netdev@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: HPET regression in 2.6.26 versus 2.6.25 -- why Yinghai's revert may have failed

> > I used 'git apply --check ' first, and got no errors, so
> > I applied it, built, installed, and rebooted.
> 
> that patch revert to use request_resource, so there is some other problem
> 
> YH

I finished experimenting last night with trying to find the last commit
in the gittree that would let me revert the problem successfully...
and I got completely raped.

The bisecting took me all the way back to the first commit introducing
the problem on these motherboards:  3def3d6d...

Considering these 3 consecutive commits (according to 'git log')from late
Feb. 2008, between kernel versions 2.6.25 and 2.6.26-rc1:
---------------------------------------------------------

700efc1b...:  the last kernel I can build and run just fine.

3def3d6d...:  this one builds, but locks up in inet_init() once the sequence
of function calls reaches synchronize_rcu().  Reverting here works, but is
trivial and silly, just reproducing 700efc1b...

1e934dda...:  attempting to revert the changes from 3def3d6d... (just one
commit before!) already fails.
---------------------------------------------------------

This last commit has an effect on my machine that prevents attempts to
revert 3def3d6d... from working as intended.  This may explain why
Yinghai's patch providing the revert for 2.6.27-rc3 did not work.
(Hopefully none of the other changes between Feb. and Aug. would also keep
the revert from working, but I wouldn't bet my life on it....)

The 3d... and 1e... commits are quite small, touching only 4 files total,
and both commits involve calls to insert_resource().  Something on my 2
problem machines is behaving badly in this area.

Reminder:  disabling HPET with "hpet=disable" allows any kernel with the
lockup problem to boot just fine.

Further note: Before my first LKML post about this problem, I had also 
tried turning off all CONFIG_HPET* features that I could reach via 
'make menuconfig', but that did not work and I still had to use 
"hpet=disable" to get the kernel to boot.

SUGGESTION

When my kernels lock up, it is always a chain of calls beginning with
inet_init() and ending up here (in net/core/dev.c):

void synchronize_net(void)
{
    might_sleep();
    synchronize_rcu();
}

If anyone wants to print diagnostic info before my kernel locks up, this 
would be a really good place to do it (so that it doesn't scroll away
before I can write it down):

void synchronize_net(void)
{
    might_sleep();
    /* Insert printk's or diagnostic function here */
    synchronize_rcu();
}

Thanks,
Dave W.
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