Hi Michel, On Wed, Nov 7, 2012 at 11:54 AM, Michel Lespinasse <walken@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Tue, Nov 6, 2012 at 12:24 AM, Michel Lespinasse <walken@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> On Mon, Nov 5, 2012 at 5:41 AM, Michel Lespinasse <walken@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >>> On Sun, Nov 4, 2012 at 8:44 PM, Michel Lespinasse <walken@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >>>> On Sun, Nov 4, 2012 at 8:14 PM, Bob Liu <lliubbo@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >>>>> Hmm, I attached a simple fix patch. >>>> >>>> Reviewed-by: Michel Lespinasse <walken@xxxxxxxxxx> >>>> (also ran some tests with it, but I could never reproduce the original >>>> issue anyway). >>> >>> Wait a minute, this is actually wrong. You need to call >>> vma_lock_anon_vma() / vma_unlock_anon_vma() to avoid the issue with >>> vma->anon_vma == NULL. >>> >>> I'll fix it and integrate it into my next patch series, which I intend >>> to send later today. (I am adding new code into validate_mm(), so that >>> it's easier to have it in the same patch series to avoid merge >>> conflicts) >> >> Hmmm, now I'm getting confused about anon_vma locking again :/ >> >> As Hugh privately remarked to me, the same_vma linked list is supposed >> to be protected by exclusive mmap_sem ownership, not by anon_vma lock. >> So now looking at it a bit more, I'm not sure what race we're >> preventing by taking the anon_vma lock in validate_mm() ??? > > Looking at it a bit more: > > the same_vma linked list is *generally* protected by *exclusive* > mmap_sem ownership. However, in expand_stack() we only have *shared* > mmap_sem ownership, so that two concurrent expand_stack() calls > (possibly on different vmas that have a different anon_vma lock) could > race with each other. For this reason we do need the validate_mm() > taking each vma's anon_vma lock (if any) before calling > anon_vma_interval_tree_verify(). > Sorry for the late response. Actually my origin concern was: avc was removed in some race place which caused the NULL pointer deref in validate_mm(). But after looking it more, i didn't find out the race place. I think avc only freed at free_pgtable() --> unlink_anon_vmas(). > While this justifies Bob's patch, this does not explain Sasha's > reports - in both of them the backtrace did not involve > expand_stack(), and there should be exclusive mmap_sem ownership, so > I'm still unclear as to what could be causing Sasha's issue. > > Sasha, how reproduceable is this ? > > Also, would the following change print something when the issue triggers ? > > diff --git a/mm/mmap.c b/mm/mmap.c > index 619b280505fe..4c09e7ebcfa7 100644 > --- a/mm/mmap.c > +++ b/mm/mmap.c > @@ -404,8 +404,13 @@ void validate_mm(struct mm_struct *mm) > while (vma) { > struct anon_vma_chain *avc; > vma_lock_anon_vma(vma); And for our patch, i think vma_lock_anon_vma()/anon_vma_lock() is used to protect the same_anon_vma list. It seems not suitable here. > - list_for_each_entry(avc, &vma->anon_vma_chain, same_vma) > + list_for_each_entry(avc, &vma->anon_vma_chain, same_vma) { > + if (avc->vma != vma) { > + printk("avc->vma %p vma %p\n", avc->vma, vma); > + bug = 1; > + } > anon_vma_interval_tree_verify(avc); > + } > vma_unlock_anon_vma(vma); > highest_address = vma->vm_end; > vma = vma->vm_next; > > -- > Michel "Walken" Lespinasse > A program is never fully debugged until the last user dies. -- Thanks, --Bob -- To unsubscribe, send a message with 'unsubscribe linux-mm' in the body to majordomo@xxxxxxxxx. For more info on Linux MM, see: http://www.linux-mm.org/ . Don't email: <a href=mailto:"dont@xxxxxxxxx"> email@xxxxxxxxx </a>