On 3 Apr 2018, at 23:22, Huang, Ying wrote:
> From: Huang Ying <ying.huang@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> mmap_sem will be read locked when calling follow_pmd_mask(). But this
> cannot prevent PMD from being changed for all cases when PTL is
> unlocked, for example, from pmd_trans_huge() to pmd_none() via
> MADV_DONTNEED. So it is possible for the pmd_present() check in
> follow_pmd_mask() encounter a none PMD. This may cause incorrect
> VM_BUG_ON() or infinite loop. Fixed this via reading PMD entry again
> but only once and checking the local variable and pmd_none() in the
> retry loop.
>
> As Kirill pointed out, with PTL unlocked, the *pmd may be changed
> under us, so read it directly again and again may incur weird bugs.
> So although using *pmd directly other than pmd_present() checking may
> be safe, it is still better to replace them to read *pmd once and
> check the local variable for multiple times.
I see you point there. The patch wants to provide a consistent value
for all race checks. Specifically, this patch is trying to avoid the inconsistent
reads of *pmd for if-statements, which causes problem when both if-condition reads *pmd and
the statements inside "if" reads *pmd again and two reads can give different values.
Am I right about this?
If yes, the problem can be solved by something like:
if (!pmd_present(tmpval = *pmd)) {
check tmpval instead of *pmd;
}
Right?
I just wonder if we need some general code for all race checks.
Thanks.
--
Best Regards
Yan Zi
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