Hello, cgroup_tree_mutex was introduced during kernfs conversion to work around the cyclic locking dependency between kernfs active protection and cgroup_mutex. Some file and directory operations need to acquire cgroup_mutex which puts the mutex under the kernfs active protection; however, cgroup also needs to access the hierarchy and the registered cftypes to detemine which files to remove, which obviously can't be done while holding cgroup_mutex anymore. cgroup_tree_mutex nests above both cgroup_mutex and kernfs active protection and protects hierarchy and cftypes so that those file operations can be performed while holding it without cgroup_mutex. This works but is kinda cumbersome as most places end up taking both cgroup_tree_mutex and cgroup_mutex and there's on-going friction on what needs to be protected by which combination. Furthermore, due to new requirements from subtree_control implementations, kernfs ended up growing full-blown mechanism to bypass active protection instead of just supporting self-removal and cgroup ended up using both mechanisms - two layered mutexes and active protection bypss - on different areas, which is totally unncessary. This patchset converts everything over to kernfs active protection bypass and drops cgroup_tree_mutex making cgroup locking noticeably simpler. It contains the following eight patches. 0001-cgroup-reorganize-cgroup_create.patch 0002-cgroup-collapse-cgroup_create-into-croup_mkdir.patch 0003-cgroup-grab-cgroup_mutex-earlier-in-cgroup_subtree_c.patch 0004-cgroup-move-cgroup-kn-priv-clearing-to-cgroup_rmdir.patch 0005-cgroup-factor-out-cgroup_kn_lock_live-and-cgroup_kn_.patch 0006-cgroup-use-cgroup_kn_lock_live-in-other-cgroup-kernf.patch 0007-cgroup-nest-kernfs-active-protection-under-cgroup_mu.patch 0008-cgroup-remove-cgroup_tree_mutex.patch 0001-0004 reorganize various kernfs handling paths so that they are more uniform in terms of active protection handling. 0005 factors out two locking helpers - cgroup_kn_lock_live() and cgroup_kn_unlock() - which handle both kernfs active protection bypass and locking. 0006 applies it to other kernfs method implementations which were grabbing cgroup_mutex under active protection. 0007 reverses the locking dependency between cgroup_mutex and kernfs active protection so that the latter nests under the former, making cgroup_mutex equivalent to cgroup_tree_mutex. 0008 removes cgroup_tree_mutex. This patchset is on top of cgroup/for-3.16 12d3089c192c ("kernel/cpuset.c: convert printk to pr_foo()") + [1] [PATCHSET cgroup/for-3.16] cgroup: post unified hierarchy fixes and updates + [2] [PATCHSET cgroup/for-3.16] cgroup: implement cftype->write() and is available in the following git branch. git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tj/cgroup.git review-kill-tree_mutex diffstat follows. Thanks. kernel/cgroup.c | 385 +++++++++++++++++++++++--------------------------------- 1 file changed, 163 insertions(+), 222 deletions(-) -- tejun [1] http://lkml.kernel.org/g/1399377044-29873-1-git-send-email-tj@xxxxxxxxxx [2] http://lkml.kernel.org/g/1399380266-3324-1-git-send-email-tj@xxxxxxxxxx -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe cgroups" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html