Tejun, while reviewing the code, spotted the following race condition between the dirtying and truncation of a page: __set_page_dirty_nobuffers() __delete_from_page_cache() if (TestSetPageDirty(page)) page->mapping = NULL if (PageDirty()) dec_zone_page_state(page, NR_FILE_DIRTY); dec_bdi_stat(mapping->backing_dev_info, BDI_RECLAIMABLE); if (page->mapping) account_page_dirtied(page) __inc_zone_page_state(page, NR_FILE_DIRTY); __inc_bdi_stat(mapping->backing_dev_info, BDI_RECLAIMABLE); which results in an imbalance of NR_FILE_DIRTY and BDI_RECLAIMABLE. Dirtiers usually lock out truncation, either by holding the page lock directly, or in case of zap_pte_range(), by pinning the mapcount with the page table lock held. The notable exception to this rule, though, is do_wp_page(), for which this race exists. However, do_wp_page() already waits for a locked page to unlock before setting the dirty bit, in order to prevent a race where clear_page_dirty() misses the page bit in the presence of dirty ptes. Upgrade that wait to a fully locked set_page_dirty() to also cover the situation explained above. Afterwards, the code in set_page_dirty() dealing with a truncation race is no longer needed. Remove it. Reported-by: Tejun Heo <tj@xxxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Johannes Weiner <hannes@xxxxxxxxxxx> --- mm/memory.c | 11 ++--------- mm/page-writeback.c | 33 ++++++++++++--------------------- 2 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 30 deletions(-) It is unfortunate to hold the page lock while balancing dirty pages, but I don't see what else would protect mapping at that point. The same btw applies for the page_mkwrite case: how is mapping safe to pass to balance_dirty_pages() after unlocking page table and page? diff --git a/mm/memory.c b/mm/memory.c index 3e503831e042..27aaee6b6f4a 100644 --- a/mm/memory.c +++ b/mm/memory.c @@ -2150,17 +2150,10 @@ reuse: if (!dirty_page) return ret; - /* - * Yes, Virginia, this is actually required to prevent a race - * with clear_page_dirty_for_io() from clearing the page dirty - * bit after it clear all dirty ptes, but before a racing - * do_wp_page installs a dirty pte. - * - * do_shared_fault is protected similarly. - */ if (!page_mkwrite) { - wait_on_page_locked(dirty_page); + lock_page(dirty_page); set_page_dirty_balance(dirty_page); + unlock_page(dirty_page); /* file_update_time outside page_lock */ if (vma->vm_file) file_update_time(vma->vm_file); diff --git a/mm/page-writeback.c b/mm/page-writeback.c index 19ceae87522d..86773236f42a 100644 --- a/mm/page-writeback.c +++ b/mm/page-writeback.c @@ -2123,32 +2123,25 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(account_page_dirtied); * page dirty in that case, but not all the buffers. This is a "bottom-up" * dirtying, whereas __set_page_dirty_buffers() is a "top-down" dirtying. * - * Most callers have locked the page, which pins the address_space in memory. - * But zap_pte_range() does not lock the page, however in that case the - * mapping is pinned by the vma's ->vm_file reference. - * - * We take care to handle the case where the page was truncated from the - * mapping by re-checking page_mapping() inside tree_lock. + * The caller must ensure this doesn't race with truncation. Most will simply + * hold the page lock, but e.g. zap_pte_range() calls with the page mapped and + * the pte lock held, which also locks out truncation. */ int __set_page_dirty_nobuffers(struct page *page) { if (!TestSetPageDirty(page)) { struct address_space *mapping = page_mapping(page); - struct address_space *mapping2; unsigned long flags; if (!mapping) return 1; spin_lock_irqsave(&mapping->tree_lock, flags); - mapping2 = page_mapping(page); - if (mapping2) { /* Race with truncate? */ - BUG_ON(mapping2 != mapping); - WARN_ON_ONCE(!PagePrivate(page) && !PageUptodate(page)); - account_page_dirtied(page, mapping); - radix_tree_tag_set(&mapping->page_tree, - page_index(page), PAGECACHE_TAG_DIRTY); - } + BUG_ON(page_mapping(page) != mapping); + WARN_ON_ONCE(!PagePrivate(page) && !PageUptodate(page)); + account_page_dirtied(page, mapping); + radix_tree_tag_set(&mapping->page_tree, page_index(page), + PAGECACHE_TAG_DIRTY); spin_unlock_irqrestore(&mapping->tree_lock, flags); if (mapping->host) { /* !PageAnon && !swapper_space */ @@ -2305,12 +2298,10 @@ int clear_page_dirty_for_io(struct page *page) /* * We carefully synchronise fault handlers against * installing a dirty pte and marking the page dirty - * at this point. We do this by having them hold the - * page lock at some point after installing their - * pte, but before marking the page dirty. - * Pages are always locked coming in here, so we get - * the desired exclusion. See mm/memory.c:do_wp_page() - * for more comments. + * at this point. We do this by having them hold the + * page lock while dirtying the page, and pages are + * always locked coming in here, so we get the desired + * exclusion. */ if (TestClearPageDirty(page)) { dec_zone_page_state(page, NR_FILE_DIRTY); -- 2.1.3 -- 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>