Re: [PATCH] cpuset: fix allocating page cache/slab object on theunallowed node when memory spread is set

From: Miao Xie
Date: Mon Feb 02 2009 - 22:07:57 EST


on 2009-1-21 18:41 Paul Menage wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 12:06 AM, Miao Xie <miaox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> The task still allocated the page caches on old node after modifying its
>> cpuset's mems when 'memory_spread_page' was set, it is caused by the old
>> mem_allowed_list of the task, the current kernel doesn't updates it unless some
>> function invokes cpuset_update_task_memory_state(), it is too late sometimes.
>
> Can you give a more concrete example of how the current code can break?

I'm sorry for replying late.

A test program which reproduces the problem on current kernel is attached.
This program just repeats reading the file "DATAFILE" after receiving SIGUSR1
and exits after receiving SIGINT.
Test Task
sigsuspend();
while(!end) {
read DATAFILE;
sigsuspend();
}

Steps to reproduce:
# mkdir /dev/cpuset
# mount -t cpuset xxx /dev/cpuset
# mkdir /dev/cpuset/0
# echo 0 > /dev/cpuset/0/cpus
# echo 1-2 > /dev/cpuset/0/mems
# echo 1 > /dev/cpuset/0/memory_spread_page
# dd if=/dev/zero of=DATAFILE bs=4096 count=20480 <- create a 80M file
# ./mem-hog &
# tst_pid=$!
# cat /proc/$tst_pid/status
...
Mems_allowed: 00000000,00000007
Mems_allowed_list: 0-2
...
# echo $tst_pid > /dev/cpuset/0/tasks
# echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
# find /sys/devices/system/node/ -name "meminfo" -exec cat {} + | grep "FilePages"
Node 0 FilePages: 15488 kB
Node 1 FilePages: 0 kB
Node 2 FilePages: 0 kB
# cat /proc/$tst_pid/status
...
Mems_allowed: 00000000,00000007 <- old memory list
Mems_allowed_list: 0-2
...
# kill -s sigusr1 $tst_pid

...wait a moment...

# find /sys/devices/system/node/ -name "meminfo" -exec cat {} + | grep "FilePages"
Node 0 FilePages: 97548 kB
Node 1 FilePages: 0 kB
Node 2 FilePages: 0 kB
# cat /proc/$tst_pid/status
...
Mems_allowed: 00000000,00000007 <- old memory list
Mems_allowed_list: 0-2
...

>> We must update the mem_allowed_list of the tasks in time.
>
> This is a fairly fundamental change to the way that mems_allowed is
> handled - it dates back to fairly early in cpusets' history.

I found Mr. Paul Jackson had discussed it with somebody:

http://lkml.org/lkml/2004/8/11/211

According to what Mr. Paul Jackson said, my patch has a serious bug.
Maybe we fix this bug just by choosing a good callsite for
cpuset_update_task_memory_state().

Thanks!
Miao

>> - * The task_struct fields mems_allowed and mems_generation may only
>> - * be accessed in the context of that task, so require no locks.
>> + * The task_struct fields mems_allowed may only be accessed in the context
>> + * of that task, so require no locks.
>
> This comment is no longer true, since mems_allowed is now being
> updated by other processes.
>
> What's to stop a task reading current->mems_allowed and racing with an
> update from update_tasks_nodemask() ? Or else, why can that not lead
> to badness?
>
> Paul
>
>
>

/* gcc mem-hog.c -g -o mem-hog -Wall -Wextra */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <err.h>
#include <signal.h>
#include <fcntl.h>

#define UNUSED __attribute__ ((unused))
#define BUFFER_SIZE 1024

volatile int end;

void sighandler1(UNUSED int signo)
{
}

void sigint(UNUSED int signo)
{
end = 1;
}

int page_cache_hog(void)
{
int fd = -1;
char buff[BUFFER_SIZE];
char path[BUFFER_SIZE];
int ret = 0;

sprintf(path, "%s", "DATAFILE");
fd = open(path, O_RDONLY);
if (fd == -1) {
warn("open %s failed", path);
return -1;
}

while ((ret = read(fd, buff, sizeof(buff))) > 0);
if (ret == -1)
warn("read %s failed", path);

close(fd);
return ret;
}

int mem_hog(void)
{
sigset_t sigset;
int ret = 0;

if (sigemptyset(&sigset) < 0)
err(1, "sigemptyset()");
sigsuspend(&sigset);

while (!end) {
ret = page_cache_hog();

sigsuspend(&sigset);
}

return ret;
}

int main(UNUSED int argc, UNUSED char *argv[])
{
struct sigaction sa1, sa2;

sa1.sa_handler = sighandler1;
if (sigemptyset(&sa1.sa_mask) < 0)
err(1, "sigemptyset()");

sa1.sa_flags = 0;
if (sigaction(SIGUSR1, &sa1, NULL) < 0)
err(1, "sigaction()");

sa2.sa_handler = sigint;
if (sigemptyset(&sa2.sa_mask) < 0)
err(1, "sigemptyset()");

sa2.sa_flags = 0;
if (sigaction(SIGINT, &sa2, NULL) < 0)
err(1, "sigaction()");

return mem_hog();
}