CONFIG_DEBUG_VM is used to enable additional MM debug checks at runtime. This can be used to catch latent kernel bugs. Because this is mainly used for debugging, it is seldom enabled in production environments, including due to the added performance overhead. Thus, the choice between VM_BUG_ON() and VM_WARN_ON() is somewhat loosely defined. VM_BUG_ON() is often used because debuggers would like to collect crash dumps when unexpected conditions occur. When CONFIG_DEBUG_VM is enabled on a very small set of production deployments to catch any unexpected condition, however, VM_WARN_ON() could be used as a substitute. In these configurations, it would be useful to surface the unexpected condition in the kernel log but not panic the system. In other words, it would be useful if checks done by CONFIG_DEBUG_ON could both generate crash dumps for kernel developers *and* surface issues but not crash depending on how it's configured. [ If it is really unsafe to continue operation, then BUG_ON() would be used instead so that the kernel panics regardless of whether CONFIG_DEBUG_VM is enabled or not. ] Introduce the ability to suppress kernel panics when VM_BUG_ON*() variants are used. This leverages the existing vm_debug= kernel command line option. Additionally, this can reduce the risk of systems boot looping if VM_BUG_ON() conditions are encountered during bootstrap. Signed-off-by: David Rientjes <rientjes@xxxxxxxxxx> --- Note: the vm_debug= kernel parameter is only extensible for new debug options, not for disabling existing debug options. When adding the ability to selectively disable existing debug options, such as in this patch, admins would need to know this future set of debug options in advance. In other words, if admins would like to preserve the existing behavior of BUG() when VM_BUG_ON() is used after this patch, they would have had to have the foresight to use vm_debug=B. It would be useful to rewrite the vm_debug= interface to select the specific options to disable rather than "disable all, and enable those that are specified." This could be done by making vm_debug only disable the listed debug options rather than enabling them. This change could be done before this patch is merged if that's the agreed path forward. --- .../admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt | 1 + include/linux/mmdebug.h | 20 ++++++++++++++----- mm/debug.c | 14 ++++++++++++- 3 files changed, 29 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt --- a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt @@ -6818,6 +6818,7 @@ debugging features. Available options are: + B Enable panic on MM debug checks P Enable page structure init time poisoning - Disable all of the above options diff --git a/include/linux/mmdebug.h b/include/linux/mmdebug.h --- a/include/linux/mmdebug.h +++ b/include/linux/mmdebug.h @@ -13,34 +13,44 @@ void dump_page(struct page *page, const char *reason); void dump_vma(const struct vm_area_struct *vma); void dump_mm(const struct mm_struct *mm); +extern bool debug_vm_bug_enabled; + #ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_VM -#define VM_BUG_ON(cond) BUG_ON(cond) +#define VM_BUG_ON(cond) \ + do { \ + if (unlikely(cond)) { \ + if (likely(debug_vm_bug_enabled)) \ + BUG(); \ + else \ + WARN_ON(1); \ + } \ + } while (0) #define VM_BUG_ON_PAGE(cond, page) \ do { \ if (unlikely(cond)) { \ dump_page(page, "VM_BUG_ON_PAGE(" __stringify(cond)")");\ - BUG(); \ + VM_BUG_ON(1); \ } \ } while (0) #define VM_BUG_ON_FOLIO(cond, folio) \ do { \ if (unlikely(cond)) { \ dump_page(&folio->page, "VM_BUG_ON_FOLIO(" __stringify(cond)")");\ - BUG(); \ + VM_BUG_ON(1); \ } \ } while (0) #define VM_BUG_ON_VMA(cond, vma) \ do { \ if (unlikely(cond)) { \ dump_vma(vma); \ - BUG(); \ + VM_BUG_ON(1); \ } \ } while (0) #define VM_BUG_ON_MM(cond, mm) \ do { \ if (unlikely(cond)) { \ dump_mm(mm); \ - BUG(); \ + VM_BUG_ON(1); \ } \ } while (0) #define VM_WARN_ON_ONCE_PAGE(cond, page) ({ \ diff --git a/mm/debug.c b/mm/debug.c --- a/mm/debug.c +++ b/mm/debug.c @@ -224,10 +224,15 @@ void dump_mm(const struct mm_struct *mm) } EXPORT_SYMBOL(dump_mm); +/* If disabled, warns but does not panic on added CONFIG_DEBUG_VM checks */ +bool debug_vm_bug_enabled = true; +EXPORT_SYMBOL(debug_vm_bug_enabled); + static bool page_init_poisoning __read_mostly = true; static int __init setup_vm_debug(char *str) { + bool __debug_vm_bug_enabled = true; bool __page_init_poisoning = true; /* @@ -237,13 +242,17 @@ static int __init setup_vm_debug(char *str) if (*str++ != '=' || !*str) goto out; + __debug_vm_bug_enabled = false; __page_init_poisoning = false; if (*str == '-') goto out; while (*str) { switch (tolower(*str)) { - case'p': + case 'b': + __debug_vm_bug_enabled = true; + break; + case 'p': __page_init_poisoning = true; break; default: @@ -254,9 +263,12 @@ static int __init setup_vm_debug(char *str) str++; } out: + if (debug_vm_bug_enabled && !__debug_vm_bug_enabled) + pr_warn("Panic on MM debug checks disabled by kernel command line option 'vm_debug'\n"); if (page_init_poisoning && !__page_init_poisoning) pr_warn("Page struct poisoning disabled by kernel command line option 'vm_debug'\n"); + debug_vm_bug_enabled = __debug_vm_bug_enabled; page_init_poisoning = __page_init_poisoning; return 1;