As I was hunting something different I found the following (potential) problem on an openSuSE 11.3 system with kernel 2.6.38-rc2. The message is triggerd by smpppd starting a dsl connection. Knut NET: Registered protocol family 24 ======================================================= [ INFO: possible circular locking dependency detected ] 2.6.38-rc2-kape #7 ------------------------------------------------------- pppd/2529 is trying to acquire lock: (&(&pch->downl)->rlock){+.....}, at: [<f814a634>] ppp_push+0x59/0x4a8 [ppp_generic] but task is already holding lock: (&(&ppp->wlock)->rlock){+.-...}, at: [<f814ae1b>] ppp_xmit_process+0x19/0x451 [ppp_generic] which lock already depends on the new lock. the existing dependency chain (in reverse order) is: -> #2 (&(&ppp->wlock)->rlock){+.-...}: [<c01462b2>] lock_acquire+0x47/0x5e [<c0471de1>] _raw_spin_lock_bh+0x2a/0x39 [<f814ae1b>] ppp_xmit_process+0x19/0x451 [ppp_generic] [<f814b39f>] ppp_start_xmit+0x14c/0x165 [ppp_generic] [<c04179ae>] dev_hard_start_xmit+0x3b1/0x489 [<c0424a53>] sch_direct_xmit+0x55/0x1b1 [<c0417cf9>] dev_queue_xmit+0x273/0x4dd [<c0434d31>] ip_finish_output+0x2b9/0x31f [<c043578c>] ip_output+0xe0/0xfb [<c0432c33>] ip_forward_finish+0x7b/0xa1 [<c0432ede>] ip_forward+0x285/0x313 [<c0431a30>] ip_rcv_finish+0x2b4/0x30f [<c0431ef6>] ip_rcv+0x21c/0x242 [<c0415090>] __netif_receive_skb+0x34a/0x388 [<c04151f7>] netif_receive_skb+0x32/0x35 [<c0415218>] napi_skb_finish+0x1e/0x34 [<c0415d72>] napi_gro_receive+0xbf/0xc7 [<c035f25a>] sky2_poll+0x66e/0x92f [<c04153eb>] net_rx_action+0x3f/0xfe [<c0128563>] __do_softirq+0x76/0xfd -> #1 (_xmit_NETROM){+.-...}: [<c01462b2>] lock_acquire+0x47/0x5e [<c0471c9c>] _raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x2e/0x3e [<c040ed60>] skb_dequeue+0x12/0x4a [<f814c237>] ppp_channel_push+0x2e/0x94 [ppp_generic] [<f814c33f>] ppp_write+0xa2/0xac [ppp_generic] [<c0188e50>] vfs_write+0x8c/0x120 [<c018909d>] sys_write+0x3b/0x60 [<c010274c>] sysenter_do_call+0x12/0x32 -> #0 (&(&pch->downl)->rlock){+.....}: [<c014594c>] __lock_acquire+0xe23/0x13ad [<c01462b2>] lock_acquire+0x47/0x5e [<c0471de1>] _raw_spin_lock_bh+0x2a/0x39 [<f814a634>] ppp_push+0x59/0x4a8 [ppp_generic] [<f814b1d9>] ppp_xmit_process+0x3d7/0x451 [ppp_generic] [<f814c336>] ppp_write+0x99/0xac [ppp_generic] [<c0188e50>] vfs_write+0x8c/0x120 [<c018909d>] sys_write+0x3b/0x60 [<c010274c>] sysenter_do_call+0x12/0x32 other info that might help us debug this: 1 lock held by pppd/2529: #0: (&(&ppp->wlock)->rlock){+.-...}, at: [<f814ae1b>] ppp_xmit_process+0x19/0x451 [ppp_generic] stack backtrace: Pid: 2529, comm: pppd Not tainted 2.6.38-rc2-kape #7 Call Trace: [<c0143c54>] ? print_circular_bug+0x93/0x9f [<c014594c>] ? __lock_acquire+0xe23/0x13ad [<c014599a>] ? __lock_acquire+0xe71/0x13ad [<c01462b2>] ? lock_acquire+0x47/0x5e [<f814a634>] ? ppp_push+0x59/0x4a8 [ppp_generic] [<c0471de1>] ? _raw_spin_lock_bh+0x2a/0x39 [<f814a634>] ? ppp_push+0x59/0x4a8 [ppp_generic] [<f814a634>] ? ppp_push+0x59/0x4a8 [ppp_generic] [<c014685c>] ? mark_held_locks+0x41/0x5d [<c0472236>] ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x36/0x59 [<c0146958>] ? trace_hardirqs_on_caller+0xe0/0x11a [<c0472242>] ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x42/0x59 [<c040ed91>] ? skb_dequeue+0x43/0x4a [<f814b1d9>] ? ppp_xmit_process+0x3d7/0x451 [ppp_generic] [<c0474723>] ? sub_preempt_count+0x81/0x8e [<c040ec5e>] ? skb_queue_tail+0x2d/0x32 [<f814c336>] ? ppp_write+0x99/0xac [ppp_generic] [<c0188e50>] ? vfs_write+0x8c/0x120 [<f814c29d>] ? ppp_write+0x0/0xac [ppp_generic] [<c018909d>] ? sys_write+0x3b/0x60 [<c010274c>] ? sysenter_do_call+0x12/0x32 -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-ppp" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html