* Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>: > On Fri, Feb 06, 2009 at 11:07:42AM -0700, Alex Chiang wrote: > > > > [removing stable@xxxxxxxxxx for now while we figure this out] > > > > * Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>: > > > On Fri, Feb 06, 2009 at 09:22:13AM -0700, Alex Chiang wrote: > > > > --- > > > > In my opinion, this is .29 material. > > > > > > > > Sorry for the huge changelog:patch ratio, but this area is tricky > > > > enough that more explanation is better than less, I think. > > > > > > > > Also, I'm still a little troubled by Paul's original patch. What > > > > happens if we're trying to offline the CPEI target? The code in > > > > migrate_platform_irqs() uses cpu_online_map to select the new > > > > CPEI target, and it seems like we can end up in the same > > > > situation as the problem I'm trying to fix now. > > > > > > > > Paul? > > > > > > > > My patch has held up for over 24 hours of stress testing, where > > > > we put the system under a heavy load and then randomly > > > > offline/online CPUs every 2 seconds. Without this patch, the > > > > machine would crash reliably within 15 minutes. > > > > > > I don't claim much expertise on IA64 low-level architectural details, > > > > I'm starting to get a bit out of my depth here too... :-/ > > > > > so am reduced to asking the usual question... Does this patch guarantee > > > that a given CPU won't be executing irq handlers while marked offline? > > > If there is no such guarantee, things can break. (See below.) > > > > My patch makes no guarantee. What it does do is prevent a NULL > > deref while we are, in fact, executing an irq handler while > > marked offline. > > > > > In any case, apologies for failing to correctly fix the original > > > problem!!! > > > > I'm curious, reading through your old change log: > > > > Make ia64 refrain from clearing a given to-be-offlined CPU's > > bit in the cpu_online_mask until it has processed pending > > irqs. This change prevents other CPUs from being blindsided > > by an apparently offline CPU nevertheless changing globally > > visible state. > > > > Was your patch fixing a theoretical problem or a real bug? What > > globally visible state were you referencing there? > > > > > > --- > > > > > > > > diff --git a/arch/ia64/kernel/smpboot.c b/arch/ia64/kernel/smpboot.c > > > > index 1146399..2a17d1c 100644 > > > > --- a/arch/ia64/kernel/smpboot.c > > > > +++ b/arch/ia64/kernel/smpboot.c > > > > @@ -742,8 +742,8 @@ int __cpu_disable(void) > > > > } > > > > > > > > remove_siblinginfo(cpu); > > > > - fixup_irqs(); > > > > cpu_clear(cpu, cpu_online_map); > > > > + fixup_irqs(); > > > > > > So you argument is that because we are running in the context of > > > stop_machine(), even though fixup_irqs() does in fact cause irq handlers > > > to run on the current CPU which is marked offline, the fact that there > > > is no one running to notice this misbehavior makes it OK? (Which > > > perhaps it is, just asking the question.) > > > > I wouldn't say that I have a solid argument, per se, just fixing > > symptoms. ;) > > > > My reading of the cpu_down() path makes it seem like we need to > > process pending interrupts on the current CPU, and the original > > author certainly thought it was ok to call an irq handler on the > > current CPU. We don't disable local irqs until the very last step > > of fixup_irqs(). > > > > So the actual design of this path assumed it was ok to call an > > irq handler on a marked-offline CPU. > > > > Can you educate me on the danger of doing such a thing? That > > might help in how I interpret the code. > > Well, RCU happily ignores CPUs that don't have their bits set in > cpu_online_map, so if there are RCU read-side critical sections in the > irq handlers being run, RCU will ignore them. If the other CPUs were > running, they might sequence through the RCU state machine, which could > result in data structures being yanked out from under those irq handlers, > which in turn could result in oopses or worse. Ok, that makes sense. As I'm continuing to dig, I took a look at the x86 side of the house and they have this interesting sequence: cpu_disable_common() remove_cpu_from_maps() /* remove cpu from online map */ fixup_irqs() [break irq-CPU affinity] local_irq_enable(); mdelay(1); local_irq_disable(); So in x86, we allow interrupt handlers to run on a CPU that's already been removed from the online map. Does that seem like an analagous situation to what we have in ia64? Thanks. /ac, still digging -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-ia64" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
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