On 01/24, Peter Zijlstra wrote: > > On Mon, 2011-01-24 at 15:34 +0100, Oleg Nesterov wrote: > > On 01/24, Peter Zijlstra wrote: > > > > > > On Fri, 2011-01-21 at 16:33 +0100, Peter Zijlstra wrote: > > > > > > > Index: linux-2.6/mm/rmap.c > > > > =================================================================== > > > > --- linux-2.6.orig/mm/rmap.c > > > > +++ linux-2.6/mm/rmap.c > > > > @@ -1559,9 +1559,20 @@ void __put_anon_vma(struct anon_vma *ano > > > > * Synchronize against page_lock_anon_vma() such that > > > > * we can safely hold the lock without the anon_vma getting > > > > * freed. > > > > + * > > > > + * Relies on the full mb implied by the atomic_dec_and_test() from > > > > + * put_anon_vma() against the full mb implied by mutex_trylock() from > > > > + * page_lock_anon_vma(). This orders: > > > > + * > > > > + * page_lock_anon_vma() VS put_anon_vma() > > > > + * mutex_trylock() atomic_dec_and_test() > > > > + * smp_mb() smp_mb() > > > > + * atomic_read() mutex_is_locked() > > > > > > Bah!, I thought all mutex_trylock() implementations used an atomic op > > > with return value (which implies a mb), but it looks like (at least*) > > > PPC doesn't and only provides a LOCK barrier. > > > > But, mutex_trylock() must imply the one-way barrier, otherwise it > > is buggy, no? > > > If this atomic_read() can leak out of the critical section, then > > I think mutex_trylock() should be fixed. Or I misunderstood the > > problem completely... > > It implies the LOCK barrier, the one way permeable thing, not a full mb. > > But I'm not sure the LOCK is sufficient to make the above scenario work. OK, I can't say I am sure too. Well. Thinking more, I can't understand why we can trust mutex_trylock() at all. Suppose that page_lock_anon_vma() races with put_anon_vma() and anon_vma->root != anon_vma. In this case page_lock_anon_vma() can take anon_vma->root->lock, but if this vma was already freed then it can be reused and anon_vma_alloc() can change ->root and set ->refcount == 1 before we check atomic_read(refcount) != 0. IOW, page_lock_anon_vma: put_anon_vma() drops the last reference if (mutex_trylock(&anon_vma->root->lock)) { anon_vma_alloc() picks this memory, changes ->root and sets ->refcount == 1 if (atomic_read(&anon_vma->refcount)) return anon_vma; } Most probably I missed something, I forgot everything I knew about this code.... Oleg. -- To unsubscribe, send a message with 'unsubscribe linux-mm' in the body to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxx For more info on Linux MM, see: http://www.linux-mm.org/ . Fight unfair telecom policy in Canada: sign http://dissolvethecrtc.ca/ Don't email: <a href=mailto:"dont@xxxxxxxxx"> email@xxxxxxxxx </a>