On Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 4:54 PM, Andrew Morton<akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> +static struct cgroup_pidlist *cgroup_pidlist_find(struct cgroup *cgrp, >> + enum cgroup_filetype type) >> +{ >> + struct cgroup_pidlist *l; >> + /* don't need task_nsproxy() if we're looking at ourself */ >> + struct pid_namespace *ns = get_pid_ns(current->nsproxy->pid_ns); >> + mutex_lock(&cgrp->pidlist_mutex); >> + list_for_each_entry(l, &cgrp->pidlists, links) { >> + if (l->key.type == type && l->key.ns == ns) { >> + /* found a matching list - drop the extra refcount */ >> + put_pid_ns(ns); >> + /* make sure l doesn't vanish out from under us */ > > This looks fishy. > >> + down_write(&l->mutex); >> + mutex_unlock(&cgrp->pidlist_mutex); >> + l->use_count++; >> + return l; > > The caller of cgroup_pidlist_find() must ensure that l->use_count > 0, > otherwise cgroup_pidlist_find() cannot safely use `l' - it could be > freed at any time. But if l->use_count > 0, there is no risk of `l' > "vanishing out from under us". > > I'm probably wrong there, but that's the usual pattern and this code > looks like it's doing something different. Please check? > That comment is vague, and should be rewritten. Individual pidlist locks depend on the cgroup->pidlist_mutex; the main idea here is that we can't drop the pidlist_mutex before picking up l->lock in case somebody's trying to remove it from the list at the same time (compare with cgroup_release_pid_array, the destroyer). The pid_namespace refcount is also safe, because having found the existing list means whoever put it there has a reference on the namespace in l->key, which hasn't gone away yet and also is protected by the cgroup->pidlist_mutex. The only ordering that's important here is that incrementing l->use_count and dropping cgroup->pidlist_mutex both have to come after taking l->mutex. _______________________________________________ Containers mailing list Containers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo/containers