Re: [PATCH]:Replacing current->state with set_current_state inkernel/signal.c

From: Linus Torvalds
Date: Wed Apr 25 2007 - 11:48:00 EST




On Wed, 25 Apr 2007, Eric Dumazet wrote:
>
> Either you think you corrected a BUG, so please state it clearly in
> Changelog so that Linus immediatly apply your patch for 2.6.21 :)

It's not a bug.

Setting current state manually is fine _iff_ you don't actually test a
condition value. It's only if you do

/* This has a race, and is bad! */
current->state = TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE;
if (some_condition)
schedule();

that you have a race: the CPU (or the compiler, for that matter) can move
the "some_condition" check up to before setting TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE, and if
another CPU comes in and wakes you up, you might lose the wakeup.

But doing

/* This is fine */
current->state = TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE;
schedule();

is fine.

Linus
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