[Sorry for posting three messages to linux-kernel about this.
Each time I was pretty sure I was done for the night. Anyhow, I
hope this proposed patch makes up for it.]
In linux-2.4.3-pre6, a call to vmalloc can result in a call to
pte_alloc without the appropriate page_table_lock being held. Here is
the call graph, from my post of about half an hour ago:
vmalloc
__vmalloc
vmalloc_area_pages
alloc_area_pmd
pte_alloc ...which assumes (here incorrectly) that
mm->page_table_lock is held, and sometimes releases
and reacquires mm->page_table_lock.
Not only does pte_alloc expect mm->page_table_lock
to be held when it is called, but it also sometimes releases and
reacquires it. vmalloc did not release this lock either, of course.
So, the next attempt to acquire the same mm->page_table_lock spin lock
hangs.
The symptom that I had noticed was the agpgart.o module hanging
at module initialization, but it is a much more general problem, and
could explain all sorts of hangs in 2.4.3-pre6.
Anyhow, with this patch, agpgart.o loads just fine and the
kernel seems to have suffered no negative side effects. I am
not confident in exactly where I chose to put the spin_lock and
spin_unlock calls, so I would recommend a careful examination of
this patch before integrating.
-- Adam J. Richter __ ______________ 4880 Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 104 adam@yggdrasil.com \ / San Jose, California 95129-1034 +1 408 261-6630 | g g d r a s i l United States of America fax +1 408 261-6631 "Free Software For The Rest Of Us."
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Mar 23 2001 - 21:00:20 EST