Re: [PATCH 2/5] HWPOISON: fix tasklist_lock/anon_vma locking order

From: Nick Piggin
Date: Fri Jun 12 2009 - 06:08:00 EST


On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 12:03:08PM +0200, Andi Kleen wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 10:22:41PM +0800, Wu Fengguang wrote:
> > To avoid possible deadlock. Proposed by Nick Piggin:
>
> I disagree with the description. There's no possible deadlock right now.
> It would be purely out of paranoia.
>
> >
> > You have tasklist_lock(R) nesting outside i_mmap_lock, and inside anon_vma
> > lock. And anon_vma lock nests inside i_mmap_lock.
> >
> > This seems fragile. If rwlocks ever become FIFO or tasklist_lock changes
>
> I was a bit dubious on this reasoning. If rwlocks become FIFO a lot of
> stuff will likely break.
>
> > type (maybe -rt kernels do it), then you could have a task holding
>
> I think they tried but backed off quickly again
>
> It's ok with a less scare-mongering description.

There's simply no good reason to invert ordering of locks like
this.

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