The log covering background task used to be part of the xfssyncd workqueue. That workqueue was removed as of commit 5889608df ("xfs: syncd workqueue is no more") and the associated work item scheduled to the xfs-log wq. The latter is used for log buffer I/O completion. Since xfs_log_worker() can invoke a log flush, a deadlock is possible between the xfs-log and xfs-cil workqueues. Consider the following codepath from xfs_log_worker(): xfs_log_worker() xfs_log_force() _xfs_log_force() xlog_cil_force() xlog_cil_force_lsn() xlog_cil_push_now() flush_work() The above is in xfs-log wq context and blocked waiting on the completion of an xfs-cil work item. Concurrently, the cil push in progress can end up blocked here: xlog_cil_push_work() xlog_cil_push() xlog_write() xlog_state_get_iclog_space() xlog_wait(&log->l_flush_wait, ...) The above is in xfs-cil context waiting on log buffer I/O completion, which executes in xfs-log wq context. In this scenario both workqueues are deadlocked waiting on eachother. Add a new workqueue specifically for the high level log covering and ail pushing worker, as was the case prior to commit 5889608df. Diagnosed-by: David Jeffery <djeffery@xxxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Brian Foster <bfoster@xxxxxxxxxx> --- Note that this seems difficult to reproduce in practice because I believe it also relies on memory pressure. Otherwise, the xfs-log wq rescuer thread may be available to unwind the deadlock. Given that, one alternative approach I considered here is to use the rescuer thread check brought up in the other thread[1] regarding WQ_MEM_RECLAIM. I opted for this approach because I think the former is brittle in that it assumes context within the xfs_log_worker() code, adds non-determinism to the overall job of the background worker, and also doesn't address the fact that it's probably unnecessary to run this code at high priority. Brian [1] http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-xfs/msg04673.html fs/xfs/xfs_log.c | 2 +- fs/xfs/xfs_mount.h | 1 + fs/xfs/xfs_super.c | 8 ++++++++ 3 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_log.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_log.c index b1469f0..bb58cd1 100644 --- a/fs/xfs/xfs_log.c +++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_log.c @@ -1293,7 +1293,7 @@ void xfs_log_work_queue( struct xfs_mount *mp) { - queue_delayed_work(mp->m_log_workqueue, &mp->m_log->l_work, + queue_delayed_work(mp->m_sync_workqueue, &mp->m_log->l_work, msecs_to_jiffies(xfs_syncd_centisecs * 10)); } diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_mount.h b/fs/xfs/xfs_mount.h index 6db6fd6..22b2185 100644 --- a/fs/xfs/xfs_mount.h +++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_mount.h @@ -183,6 +183,7 @@ typedef struct xfs_mount { struct workqueue_struct *m_reclaim_workqueue; struct workqueue_struct *m_log_workqueue; struct workqueue_struct *m_eofblocks_workqueue; + struct workqueue_struct *m_sync_workqueue; /* * Generation of the filesysyem layout. This is incremented by each diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_super.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_super.c index 890862f..4bad410 100644 --- a/fs/xfs/xfs_super.c +++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_super.c @@ -877,8 +877,15 @@ xfs_init_mount_workqueues( if (!mp->m_eofblocks_workqueue) goto out_destroy_log; + mp->m_sync_workqueue = alloc_workqueue("xfs-sync/%s", WQ_FREEZABLE, 0, + mp->m_fsname); + if (!mp->m_sync_workqueue) + goto out_destroy_eofb; + return 0; +out_destroy_eofb: + destroy_workqueue(mp->m_eofblocks_workqueue); out_destroy_log: destroy_workqueue(mp->m_log_workqueue); out_destroy_reclaim: @@ -899,6 +906,7 @@ STATIC void xfs_destroy_mount_workqueues( struct xfs_mount *mp) { + destroy_workqueue(mp->m_sync_workqueue); destroy_workqueue(mp->m_eofblocks_workqueue); destroy_workqueue(mp->m_log_workqueue); destroy_workqueue(mp->m_reclaim_workqueue); -- 2.7.4 -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-xfs" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html