Re: Regression - Re: 2.6.28-rc2: runaway loop modprobe char-major-5-1

From: Patrick McHardy
Date: Mon Nov 24 2008 - 08:32:00 EST


Meelis Roos wrote:
request_module: runaway loop modprobe char-major-5-1

and then hangs.

char-major-5-1 seems to mean ttyS0.
I'm seeing the same problem on a Debian unstable system using
initramfs and dm-crypt, but it seems to be caused by userspace
changes, using an old initramfs image with just the new modules
added manually works fine (well, breaks elsewhere).

I have done some eveninfs testing, taking apart and putting together my own initramfs. It looks like this is a kernel bug, not userspace - the hang happens after initramfs is unpacked and after VFS and quotas are installed, and after "msgmni has been set to 627" message but before BSG loading message and before io scheduler initialization. And log before init is executed from initramfs (and no modprobe is executed either, as my wrapper does not run).

Rerepeating, same userspace generats fine initramfs for 2.6.27 and the initramfs contents are the same except modules tree that is for different version.

It happens on 2 of my computers, both have custom config (serial compiled in, not modular). The hang happens before ttyS driver initialization.

char-major-5-1 is /dev/console here.

Seems like a kernel regression to me.

It does, I changed some configuration options from =m to =y and
it started working again. Unfortunately I'm unable to find the
exact option that fixed it since I don't have the previous
configuration anymore and random attempts to trigger the problem
again failed.
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